Canada  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Music: Gino Soccio, Neil Young, BadBadNotGood

Literature: Margaret Atwood

Film: David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan


"A strong element in contemporary Canadian culture is rich, diverse, thoughtful and witty science fiction. Its best-known representatives are William Gibson (Neuromancer), David Cronenberg (The Fly) and Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale)."--Sholem Stein


Related e

Wikipedia
Wiktionary
Shop


Featured:

Canada is a country in North America. It extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean.

Contents

Canadian cultural protectionism

Cultural protectionism in Canada has, since the mid-20th century, taken the form of conscious, interventionist attempts on the part of various Canadian governments to promote Canadian cultural production and limit the effect of foreign, largely American, culture on the domestic audience. Sharing a large border and (for the majority) a common language with the United States, Canada faces a difficult position in regard to American culture, be it direct attempts at the Canadian market or the general diffusion of American culture in the globalized media arena. While Canada tries to maintain its cultural sovereignty, it also must balance this with responsibility in trade arrangements such as GATT and NAFTA.

Cinema

Notable filmmakers from English Canada include James Cameron, David Cronenberg, Guy Maddin, Atom Egoyan and Michael Snow. Notable filmmakers from French Canada include Denys Arcand.

The cinema of English-speaking Canada is heavily intertwined with the cinema of the neighboring United States: though there is a distinctly Canadian cinematic tradition, there are also Canadian films that have no obvious Canadian identity (examples include Porky's and Meatballs), Canadian-American co-productions filmed in Canada (including My Big Fat Greek Wedding and the Saw series); American films filmed in Canada (including the Night at the Museum and Final Destination films, among hundreds of others); and American films with Canadian directors and/or actors. Canadian directors who are best known for their American-produced films include Norman Jewison, Jason Reitman, Paul Haggis and James Cameron. Cameron, in particular, wrote and directed the highest and second-highest grossing films ever, Avatar and Titanic, respectively. Canadian actors who achieved success in Hollywood films include Mary Pickford, Norma Shearer, Donald Sutherland, Jim Carrey and Ryan Gosling, among hundreds of others.

See also: Outrageous! (1977), Cube (1997).

Music

The history of music of Canada has mirrored the history and evolution of the country. From early British-style patriotic songs and the folk traditions of the many founding cultures, to the international success of cutting-edge alternative music bands, music has been an ever evolving part of Canada's cultural life. In recent decades, Canadian music, in all its forms, has come to be one of the most fully developed expressions of the Canadian identity. The country's tradition of folk music, with its basis in every region and community in the country, is complemented by strong domestic and international contributions to popular music.

From artists like country singer Hank Snow in the 1950s, to the hard rock of bands like Rush and The Guess Who in 1960s and 1970s, to worldwide pop stars like Bryan Adams, CĂ©line Dion, Shania Twain in the 1980s and 1990s, to the promise of the current wave of the Canadian sound typified by performers as diverse as the Arcade Fire, Billy Talent, k-os, Avril Lavigne and Alexisonfire, music has become the country's most successful and well-known contribution to global culture.

Among the most notable is Neil Young.

See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Canada" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

Personal tools