2.4 Amerization in the Film Industry

Americanization Through the Film Industry

• Canada has a hypocritical relationship with Americanization

• Enjoyed and accepted, Canada still complains about it though

• There are three areas in film: Production, Distribution, and Exhibition

Production

• Post- WWI Canada was producing a lot of films which were being distributed to other countries. Peaking in 1919 with “Back to God’s Country”.

• However, government said, “Hey, the arts are a total waste of money, let’s maybe stop focusing on them so much :D”

• This led to many Canadian talents moving to America to start careers there (come back Michael Cera please!!! Justin, you can stay away)

• Ex. Mary Pickford, born Gladys Smith, was a young Canadian actress who moved to the U.S. to star on Broadway as “America’s Sweetheart,” a title that would later be given to ANOTHER Canadian Rachel McAdams (way to rub it in Canada’s face)

• Essentially, Canadian’s such as Mary Pickford (and Michael Cera, still on that) did not want to work in Canada because Canada was not a powerhouse for the arts. It was much easier to hop a order and get successful in America.

Distribution

• Canada had a lot of small theaters, individually owned old-timey buildings but big American companies wanted to change that

• The Allen Brothers wanted to buy out all of Canada’s little theaters with the crazy amount of money they were making in the U.S.

• That wasn’t very hard

• The Allen Brothers became very successful in America, Canada, and Britain

Exhibition

• Theaters were considered to be “high culture for regular folks”

• Built very ornately, live orchestra to guide the silent films of the time, meant to make viewers feel high class (and come back)

A Nice Ol’ Timeline

• Canada has lots of happy little theatres

• RAH big mean Allen Brothers come in with their American money and take all of them

• They now had 60 theaters in 1920, amounting to 20 MILLION dollars worth of theaters (in modern money. About 16 million at the time)

• They were offered 15 million dollars by Famous Players for their theaters but refused (dumb???)

• Famous Players was richer than the Allen Brothers and had Production, Distribution, and Exhibition working in their favor, therefore they stopped giving the Allen Brothers rights to their movies

• The Allen Brothers continued to refuse to sell as their network plummeted and went bankrupt

• Famous Players easily bought all of the Allen Brothers theatres for less than it cost to build one (ouch, that must sting)

• Nathan Nathanson (amazing name) and Adolph Zukor then owned Famous Players

• Zukor left to create his business Odeon (hey, I know that one!)

• Odeon and Famous Players merged into Cineplex. And that’s why we still have Belgian chocolate

Timeline referring to all media

• 1919: Canada peaked at its most popular movie ever produced before losing its newfound popularity.

• 1920-22: The first of Canadian radio (CFCF) and CKAC (the first French radio station) played a lot of American- produced programming, sparking the debate of cultural identity in Canada.

• 1924: B.C. was no longer enforcing the 15 minutes of Canadian advertisement daily, yet American films were still being featured.

• 1927: B.C. allowed Hollywood studios to move to the province to produce quickly made movies to make money.

• 1991: Foreign media makes up for an overwhelming amount of media consumed by Canadians, proving the influence that America has over Canada.

Consequences

• Long Term: Canadian culture developed to mirror American culture very closely by the mid-20th century due to the amount of media we consume from them

• Long Term: It led to a lack of Canadian stories being told, particularly those of Indigenous voices, these stories only beginning to be heard now

• Long Term: Similarly, the American view on Canadian life is inaccurate and doesn’t include a lot of cultural groups and the dynamics of different communities in Canada, leading to misrepresentation

• Long Term: The lack of encouragement for Canadian filmmakers led to less Canadians getting involved in the industry in Canada, having to work primarily in the States to contribute to the industry

• Short Term: Policies such as the B.C. film censor were created to regulate the amount of foreign media being displayed in Canada

• Long Term: Canadian recognition for films only became common in the 70’s and onward

• Long Term: Canada was often used as a film location for Hollywood without being recognised for it in the early 1900’s, which didn’t boost Canadian recognition at all as it was only a “good spot to film in.”

Other Stuff to Note (Probably NOT on Exam (EXCEPT THE FIRST ONE))

• America’s control over Canadian media led to all the stereotypes we see today about the country ex. Sorry, I have to get back to my igloo on my snowshoes and feed my pet polar bear it’s fish before hiking to the highest peak I can find and chopping down the only tree in sight, then i have to go home to my igloo and build a fire but be careful not to melt my house because it took like three hours to make and I even sprayed it with that snow color stuff to make it red and blue so I can worship my providers, god bless America blah blah blah (this is kind of a good story actually).

• Super rich people (like Elon Musk) can own all three aspects of film (he doesn't though… yet). “Why should I care?” You may be asking this question and I don’t really know how to answer because I personally don’t care as long as Elon keeps Teslas OUT of my movies. However, if he did own the film industry he could basically go, “hey! Listen to my opinions, they’re right!” and all media would be preaching this stuff and it would be like 1984. (Elon Musk= Big Brother???????????) Anyways, yeah.

• Lots of people who are rich own one or two parts of production. 

• Ex. Ryan Reynolds and his wife whom I will not name due to my undying hate for her own a production company. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (ew) owned one when they were together. I think Meryll Streep does too but if she doesn’t she totally should. So does Lewis Hamilton apparently so that’s cool.