Marusya Bociurkiw - Feeling Canadian: Television, Nationalism, and Affect

Film studies is the critical exploration of cinematic texts as art and entertainment, as well as the industries that produce them and the audiences that consume them. Although a medium barely one hundred years old, film is already transformed through the emergence of new media forms. Media studies is an interdisciplinary field that considers the nature and effects of mass media upon individuals and society and analyzes media content and representations. Despite changing modes of consumptionespecially the proliferation of individuated viewing technologiesfilm has retained its cultural dominance into the 21st century, and it is this transformative moment that the WLU Press Film and Media Studies series addresses.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

IT TOOK A VILLAGE to complete this book over several years; as there are a great many people to thank, the reader will excuse both my excesses and my omissions.

I offer huge thanks to friends, colleagues, and family who provided vast quantities of encouragement, populist and scholarly feedback, technical support, taped TV programs, as well as shelter during research trips in the early stages of writing: Lydia Bociurkiw, Vera Bociurkiw, Billie Carroll, Joanna Clarke, Anh Hua, Bobbi Kozinuk, Haida Paul, Larissa Petrillo, Deanna Reder, Terri Roberton, Jacky Sawatzky, and Kim Stewart. I especially thank Penny Goldsmith for careful editorial reading of the first and final drafts.

This book began life as a Ph. D. thesis. I am grateful for a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Appreciation is also due to my Ph. D. supervisory committee for the breadth of their scholarly input: Sneja Gunew (supervisor), Zo Druick, Helen Hok-Sze Leung, and Sunera Thobani. Gratitude also to Ann Kaplan and Elspeth Probyn, whose lectures, insights, and encouragement inspired certain crucial aspects of this book.

My research was immensely aided by Arthur Schwartzel, head of the CBC News Archives in Toronto, by the staff of the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa, and by a writing retreat at Gibralter Point on Toronto Island. A tip o the hat to Libby Davies and Kim Elliott for facilitating my time on Gambier Island, where I was able to complete final revisions. Thanks also to Gloria Mass, who made Gambier feel like home.

Thanks are due also to the organizers of conferences and symposia I attended, where I was able to workshop certain chapters: Sneja Gunew, coordinator of the Transculturalisms seminars at the University of British Columbia, 20012; Ayse Lahur Kirtun, organizer of the Seventh International Cultural Studies Symposium in Izmir, Turkey, May 2002; and Dorota Glowacka, organizer of the sessions on genocide and trauma during the CSAA meetings at the National Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Halifax, May 2003. I am also grateful to those who published extracts of this work and whose detailed commentary enriched the final product: Davin Heckman, former editor of the online journal Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture; and Zo Druick, co-editor of Programming Reality: Perspectives on English-Canadian Television. I gratefully acknowledge as well editorial comment provided by the anonymous readers who helped shape the final draft.

I could not have completed revisions of this book without the detective skills of a tiny band of research assistants: Aaron Hancox, Dana Iliescu, and Lee Parpart. I am indebted not only for the mountains of books and articles they surveyed but also for savvy insights and stimulating conversation. My students at Simon Fraser University and more recently at Ryerson University provided lively sites of irreverent debate, enquiry, and affect that fed this book in subliminal ways. A publications grant from the Faculty of Art and Design at Ryerson University helped smooth the way, as did colleagues in the School of Radio and Television Arts. Other friends and colleagues, by example, encouragement, or the sharing of food and ideas, helped me to find an equilibrium between affect, writing, teaching, research, and life itself: John Bailey, Jen Chambers, Jim Drobnick, Greg Elmer, Jennifer Fisher, Karleen Pendleton-Jimenez, Chandra Siddan, Claire Sykes, Charles Zamaria, and the excellent writers group Write or Die. My deep appreciation also to literary consultant Sally Keefe-Cohen for her help with the business side of writing and publishing. Finally, thanks to the staff at Wilfrid Laurier University Press for their hard work and commitment to this project.

INTRODUCTION

IT WAS 1999. Nunavut was the newest Canadian territory. Former TV host Adrienne Clarkson had been appointed Canadas first Chinese-born Governer General. Over 50,000 protesters converged on Seattle to protest the effects of globalization. And Molson, responding to the dampening effects of free trade, developed a new TV ad for its Canadian line of beer (Wagman).