# Does Canada have a "national epic"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947 "2007-09-12T18:41:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/41 "2007-09-13T03:25:56Z")
[QUOTE=Gorsnak] [Hinterland Who’s Who](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwWHk8azaAc) is/was a series of 1 minute shorts about Canadian wildlife that used to play in much the same spots as Heritage Minutes do now. [/QUOTE] Darn you to heck - I was going to post this to explain about Hinterland’s Who’s Who - [Spiders on Drugs](http://208.100.26.199/sdmb/showthread.php?t=436282). 😃 I’d have to go with The Summit Series as Canada’s Epic. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/42 "2007-09-13T03:27:04Z")
Does a country’s “national epic” have to be made within that country? Of course, that seems like the most natural progression and the most authentic scenario, but who’s to say that Hollywood couldn’t create a film based on a popular Canadian legend or historical event that resonated with Canadians. I’m struggling to come up with any examples, but I have to think something like this has already happened before for some country. Hollywood has a history of mining foreign culture for new ideas. Maybe something like _Letters From Iwo Jima_? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/43 "2007-09-13T03:31:17Z")
Seems like the railroad would be a good subject for said epic. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/44 "2007-09-13T03:31:43Z")
[QUOTE=Omniscient] \who’s to say that Hollywood couldn’t create a film based on a popular Canadian legend or historical event that resonated with Canadians. \ [/QUOTE] Like burning down the White House in 1812? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/45 "2007-09-13T03:36:33Z")
I vote for **2112**. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/46 "2007-09-13T03:38:50Z")
Make it 2012. A United States of Canada can’t possibly be more f’d up than what we’ve got now. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/47 "2007-09-13T03:39:02Z")
Does _The Hockey Sweater_ count as an epic-ette? ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/48 "2007-09-13T03:46:53Z")
[QUOTE=GingerOfTheNorth] I have to add, the CBC each year does “Canada Reads” to vet out the best in new fiction in Canada, and declares a winner. This year it was “[Lullabies for Little Criminals](http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Lullabies-for-Little-Criminals-Novel-Heather-Oneill/9780060875077-item.html?ref=Books%3a+Search+Top+Sellers)” [/QUOTE] My step-cousin wrote this book 😃 I read it not too long ago and I loved it. I doubt most Canadians can relate, though, so perhaps not “epic” in the sense we are looking for! Heather also has a book of poetry, “Two eyes are you sleeping”, which is also very good. Another Québecois one, along the lines of _Gone with the Wind_ might be "_Les filles de Caleb_, by Arlette Cousture. Many people will have read it or seen the mini-series at some point in their lives, in this province. We keep coming up with Québec works… if we are talking about something “historical” like GWTW, then pretty much we are going to be restricted to what was once Upper and Lower Canada, and the language differences make up a really large part about who we are and where we come from as a nation. **Dewey Finn** - The Tim Horton’s commercials… really, who hasn’t felt connected to one of those?!? ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/49 "2007-09-13T03:47:52Z")
The American Astronaut or Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter. My favorite Canadian movies. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/50 "2007-09-13T03:54:41Z")
[QUOTE=mnemosyne] \ **Dewey Finn** - The Tim Horton’s commercials… really, who hasn’t felt connected to one of those?!? [/QUOTE] Ooh, ooh, that makes me think of a good one - the “I Am Canadian” commercial story. We laughed, we cried, we said, “Yeah, that’s just what it’s like here…” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/51 "2007-09-13T03:58:04Z")
I’m waiting to see how _The Owl and the Man_ will play out. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/52 "2007-09-13T04:09:26Z")
[QUOTE=solkoe] Unfortunately, great Canadian movies are few and far between. Our top grossing movie of all time is _Bon Cop, Bad Cop_ which is only good if you speak both French and English. This movie surpassed _Porky’s_ in its climb to the top. _Porky’s_ had been number 1 for about 20 years. [/QUOTE] My favorite story about a Canadian movie concerns _The Crimson Paradise_, Canada’s first all-talking picture. Made entirely on location in British Columbia, it opened in Vancouver in 1933 to sellout business. _All traces of it have long since disappeared._ That’s right, a smash hit movie that could have been the pride of a nation was just tossed aside and _lost_. You folks are self-effacing to a fault sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/53 "2007-09-13T04:17:07Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] I vote for **2112**. [/QUOTE] Amen to that. Or _Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence_ by Dream Theater, who are 1/5 Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/54 "2007-09-13T04:42:34Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] \That’s right, a smash hit movie that could have been the pride of a nation was just tossed aside and _lost_. \ [/QUOTE] Have you ever heard the Avro Arrow story? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/55 "2007-09-13T06:08:04Z")
[Men with Brooms](http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/dvd/Men-With-Brooms-Gross-Parker-Nielsen/065935143802-item.html?ref=Search+DVD%3a+'Men+with+Brooms'&sterm=Men+with+Brooms+-+DVD)? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/56 "2007-09-13T11:34:35Z")
How about **William Vollman** ’s books? [Fathers and Crows](http://www.amazon.com/Fathers-Crows-Dreams-William-Vollmann/dp/014016717X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/104-0342284-5471928?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189682184&sr=8-3) or [The Rifles](http://www.amazon.com/Rifles-Seven-Dreams-William-Vollmann/dp/0140176233/ref=pd_sim_b_1/104-0342284-5471928?ie=UTF8&qid=1189682184&sr=8-7) for instance… He’s not Canadian, and the series will eventually cover all of North America but these two are all set in Canada, iirc. And The Ice-Shirt covers earlier Greenland/Eastern Canadian history. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/57 "2007-09-13T13:28:44Z")
As far as novels go, Mordecai Richler’s _Solomon Gursky Was Here_ is possibly the most epic, sweeping as it does back and forth across the country over the course of a couple centuries. It has everything you want in an epic – deep historical background, failed romance, extreme wealth, crushing poverty, blinding ambition, tragic figures, criminal undertakings, and every other typical epic requirement. As usual with Richler’s books, it was a great read as well, through it clearly wasn’t to everybody’s taste. All of Richler’s work is about the exalted and the flawed and the failed. His iconic heroes and anti-heroes are all over the place: the Star Maker, the Boy Wonder, Duddy himself, Atuk, the Horseman, Dr. Dr. Mueller, Solomon Gursky and Boogie for starters. It’s rare to have a Richler novel where there isn’t some impossibly larger-than-life but very flawed figure. It was Richler’s reaction to Canada’s whiny, smaller-than-life, apologetic, snivelling character. Why Canadians can’t manage a decent film based on his works is beyond me. _Duddy_ was OK, but \*Joshua Then and Now \* was awful. On the French side, I’d personally go with _Bonheur d’Occasion_, by Gabrielle Roy. Good book and a pretty good movie. Or maybe Anne Hébert’s _Kamouraska_. But French Canadians excel in celebrating their culture in epic form. There have been a number of epic series in print by Chrystine Brouillet and Micheline Lachance. And films such as _Jesus de Montréal_ and _La face cachée de la lune_ have an epic feel to them. As far as English-language film goes, it’s tough, because the national market isn’t huge, the international market has no interest in Canadian epics, and the English-language competition is absolutely ferocious. There have been a few films mentioned above that are worthy, but mostly unseen. I have a fond spot for _Goin’ Down the Road_, laughable as the film now seems. The film _Last Night_, in its own way, is almost a joke about the impossibility of a Canadian epic. The world is about to end, and Canadians, for the most part, dutifully go about their business. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/58 "2007-09-13T14:16:15Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] Read “THE CREMATION OF SAM McGEE”-that’s a real canadian epic! [/QUOTE] Yup. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/59 "2007-09-13T14:22:10Z")
1. The Sweet Hereafter Sarah Polley plays the lone survivor of a school bus tragedy that takes the children of a town. Based on the book by Russell Banks, Atom Egoyan made a heart-wrenching film. Other films by Egoyan you shouldn’t miss include “Exotica” and “The Adjuster.” 2. Videodrome David Cronenberg is a close second, and no movie before or since epitomizes his surreal, subversive work as the twisted horror of “Videodrome,” starring James Woods and Deborah Harry. All of his other films are worth checking out, however, especially “Crash,” “Dead Ringers,” and “Naked Lunch.” 3. Roadkill Bruce McDonald’s low-budget rock’n roll road movie, co-written by Don McKellar, has become a cult classic. 4. Last Night Don McKellar’s surprisingly touching End-of-the-World drama “Last Night,” which successfully combines millennial hysteria and intimate portraits of people who know the end is coming. 5. Trailer Park Boys - The Movie Mike Clattenburg’s adaptation of his cult hit TV show is simultaneously hilarious, caustic, raucous, and touching. C C . ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947/60 "2007-09-13T14:52:35Z")
No love for Men with Brooms? I’m shocked! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-canada-have-a-national-epic/418947.md?page=4)