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One of the cultural touchstones of being a Canadian is the smug yet bleak realization that your tiny (in population) nation has produced so many titans of vario

by mikrl 1y ago

One of the cultural touchstones of being a Canadian is the smug yet bleak realization that your tiny (in population) nation has produced so many titans of various creative fields, but everyone thinks they’re American because they had to bugger off down there to get their careers going. Steppenwolf being the quintessential example.

spamizbad 1y ago
Not sure if Canadians are aware of this, but Canada does two things really well: 1) Developing its own domestic artists/musicians, to a much greater degree than the US (eg https://www.factor.ca/ https://www.factor.ca/) 2) Greatly restricting smaller foreign acts (especially from the US) from performing in Canada for commercial purposes Yes, point #2 also applies to the US, but it's not enforced. But if you cross into Canada with musical instruments, they'll put the fear of God into you. This is largely why the phenomena you describe exists: artists can develop within their domestic cocoon, without being crowded-out by Americans, and then tour their larger, wealthier neighbor to greatly expand their profile virtually risk-free.
- wozniacki 1y ago
  2) Greatly restricting smaller foreign acts (especially from the US) from performing in Canada for commercial purposes Yes, point #2 also applies to the US, but it's not enforced. But if you cross into Canada with musical instruments, they'll put the fear of God into you. This almost never has the intended effect of producing world class homegrown musical or cinema acts. Like almost a 100% failure rate especially when theres a shared language. Lots of countries have this quota system where they try to artificially force feed homegrown music, tv shows and movies and it never works. People always gravitate to the larger American sphere because it doesnt have such restrictions in place. They dont work anyway. When I first saw Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah (2008) it was so fresh and un-Hollywood like in the presentation of the raw violence and vice, that it stunned me. I still cant stand most PG-fied and Disney-fied American films. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomorrah_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomorrah_(film) Gomorra (2008) Official HD Trailer [1080p] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezYyxBZ7Ee0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezYyxBZ7Ee0
jchw 1y ago
Even as a U.S. citizen this hits me frequently. A lot of amazing comedians I didn't realize were Canadian for a long time, as a U.S. citizen. Norm Macdonald comes to mind, but he's far from alone.
- bee_rider 1y ago
  Interesting. He seems extremely Canadian to me. A lot of his jokes play off this sort of fish-out-of-water vibe…
  - jchw 1y ago
    For Norm, just the crude nature of a lot of his jokes felt like something that was very "American", at least certainly in the 90s and 2000s. His delivery, on the other hand, always felt fairly unique to me. It's also possible I just mistook characteristics of Canadian comics as being those of American comics by simply not realizing how many popular comedians are Canadian.
- brudgers 1y ago
  Canada has government programs requiring broadcasters to broadcast Canadian content. So there are strong economic incentives to find, fund, develop, and promote Canadian artists working in various media.
  - mikrl 1y ago
    In my undergrad days I learned about the MAPL classification to be considered Canadian content: Music, Artist, Performance, Lyrics IIRC you need to hit 3/4 to be considered Canadian content. At that time J Biebs was big, but since his music and lyrics were written by Americans and he performed/recorded in the States, his music was not CanCon despite him being Canadian. So, at the radio station I volunteered at, his music would count towards the 30% quota of not-CanCon music.

by mikrl 1y ago

spamizbad 1y ago

Not sure if Canadians are aware of this, but Canada does two things really well: 1) Developing its own domestic artists/musicians, to a much greater degree than the US (eg https://www.factor.ca/ https://www.factor.ca/) 2) Greatly restricting smaller foreign acts (especially from the US) from performing in Canada for commercial purposes Yes, point #2 also applies to the US, but it's not enforced. But if you cross into Canada with musical instruments, they'll put the fear of God into you. This is largely why the phenomena you describe exists: artists can develop within their domestic cocoon, without being crowded-out by Americans, and then tour their larger, wealthier neighbor to greatly expand their profile virtually risk-free.

wozniacki 1y ago
2) Greatly restricting smaller foreign acts (especially from the US) from performing in Canada for commercial purposes Yes, point #2 also applies to the US, but it's not enforced. But if you cross into Canada with musical instruments, they'll put the fear of God into you. This almost never has the intended effect of producing world class homegrown musical or cinema acts. Like almost a 100% failure rate especially when theres a shared language. Lots of countries have this quota system where they try to artificially force feed homegrown music, tv shows and movies and it never works. People always gravitate to the larger American sphere because it doesnt have such restrictions in place. They dont work anyway. When I first saw Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah (2008) it was so fresh and un-Hollywood like in the presentation of the raw violence and vice, that it stunned me. I still cant stand most PG-fied and Disney-fied American films. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomorrah_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomorrah_(film) Gomorra (2008) Official HD Trailer [1080p] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezYyxBZ7Ee0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezYyxBZ7Ee0

jchw 1y ago

Even as a U.S. citizen this hits me frequently. A lot of amazing comedians I didn't realize were Canadian for a long time, as a U.S. citizen. Norm Macdonald comes to mind, but he's far from alone.

bee_rider 1y ago
Interesting. He seems extremely Canadian to me. A lot of his jokes play off this sort of fish-out-of-water vibe…
- jchw 1y ago
  For Norm, just the crude nature of a lot of his jokes felt like something that was very "American", at least certainly in the 90s and 2000s. His delivery, on the other hand, always felt fairly unique to me. It's also possible I just mistook characteristics of Canadian comics as being those of American comics by simply not realizing how many popular comedians are Canadian.
brudgers 1y ago
Canada has government programs requiring broadcasters to broadcast Canadian content. So there are strong economic incentives to find, fund, develop, and promote Canadian artists working in various media.
- mikrl 1y ago
  In my undergrad days I learned about the MAPL classification to be considered Canadian content: Music, Artist, Performance, Lyrics IIRC you need to hit 3/4 to be considered Canadian content. At that time J Biebs was big, but since his music and lyrics were written by Americans and he performed/recorded in the States, his music was not CanCon despite him being Canadian. So, at the radio station I volunteered at, his music would count towards the 30% quota of not-CanCon music.