Can Con

One of the things I loved about Korea was their strong sense of culture and history. Though American movies still sneak their way into Korean cinemas, Korean people flock to Korean movies. American movies are bought on DVD from the street vendors selling pirated copies- in my opinion, just the way it should be. I'd much rather he get my three dollars than George Lucas who has already gotten too much of my hard earned money for producing crap (apologies to all the hard-core Star Wars fans, but I just can't calm the feeling in the pit of my stomach that says we've been ripped off). Fiercely proud and patriotic, Koreans would rather see films that reflect their history and culture than American films reflecting American culture. Makes sense to me.

One of my Korean co-workers asked me why Canadians didn't like the arts. I was confused, and she went on to site the lack of Canadian actors and films as support for her thinking. It was one of my saddest moments as a Canadian. I hung my head and informed her that John Candy, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Kim Cattrall, David Cronenberg, Pamela Anderson, Keanu Reaves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy, James Cameron, Alex Trebek, Kiefer Sutherland, Hayden Christianson and Michael J Fox all hail from Canada. I was so embarrased. So many incredibly talented artists move south because of the lack of support for the arts in our own country. Watching CTV is truly a frustrating experience for a supporter of the Canadian arts. The shows that are truly Canadian- Corner Gas, Trailer Park Boys, Degrassi High- are incredibly successful, and yet for some reason we still jam CTV full of American-style shows. Why do we attempt to produce lame rip-offs of American shows when there are plenty of talented people in Canada working hard to produce original art? Why do so many Canadians roll their eyes at the thought of attending a Canadian film, as though it's synonimous with low production values and a bad script- when clearly we deserve to be proud of our arts?

Having said all this- go see Bon Cop, Bad Cop - Canada's first bilingual film about a murder that takes place on the border of Ontario and Quebec. The film is hilarious- and while stereotyping the Québécois character as an irresponsible, chain smoking ladies man and the Anglo as a maudite tête carré, at least it gets the two sides talking. In fact, support the arts- don't just see it, buy it. Of course, this message is somewhat self-serving as I hope for more film work in Canada so I never have to consider that trip down south. Just imagine the film industry we could have if our talent didn't have to leave to make money.