Silly Little Country

Canadian in the US Media

I rejected the title "Canadian, Eh?" as it works on an ignorant stereotype. "Eh?" is a perfectly good interjection in many parts of the world - I lived in England for a year and heard it all the time from natives. I can hardly recall hearing it from Canadians except in comedy sketches except sarcastically (see below).
But we have got attention in some recent US TV shows, both of which I enjoy.
"30 Rock" have now added a Canadian character, the new actor on the TGS show. In the first episode he struggles with not saying "aboot", and I did understand that, as someone regularly exposed in such a way in my many years of living in the US. And I cannot hear the difference. But I do if I hear a Canadian Maritimer so I am sure it is real.
But in the following episode the meme is a little different. The Canadian guy suggests he is deaf to sarcasm, and he has epiphanies later in teh episode as he realizes he is 'doing' sarcasm. Now this is just dumb. The US commediat is dominated by Canadians, and, bloody hell, Lorne Michaels produces '30 Rock'. He KNOWS better! He certainly knows about SCTV, where the humour took many forms, but it was all Canadian, and sarcasm dripped through it.
Has '30 Rock' become this sloppy'? In any case none of these jokes could be very funny either to a Canadian or someone who knew much about Canada. Michaels?
At the same time my internal literary critic was really impressed in a recent episode of 'House'. In this one, House found himself confronted with a patient who simply would not complain about his neglect by the doctors and nurses in the hospital - he just stood by his hospital bed, smiling and seemingly hoping someone would care for him. He seemed unconcerned about how long he would have to wait for treatment.
And House, looking at this, calls out something like 'Is he Canadian?'
What a wonderfully double-sided sword!
One side suggests, of course, that this is a symptom of our excessive niceness and politeness ('peace, order,and good government').
But there is another message here - and my guess it is not intended in the midst of US Health Care discussions. A Canadian would, of course simply assume that he has a LONG and ARBITRARY waiting list before he gets serious attention in a medical system, and there is ZERO point complaining. Or are the writers of 'House' that smart? My guess is no. Obamacare - let it prevail!

posted by Alan Adamson @ 4:39 PM