Canadian references don’t mock us like they used to
The show: The Great Canadian Supercut The moment: Brad Pitt, Canadian
“What did you expect Canadian women to be like?” a woman asks in North West Mounted Police (1940).
“Kind of like the scenery,” a man (Gary Cooper) replies. “Good to look at, but kinda frostbitten.”
“Canadians are wonderful people, it’s just that they’re just spread so far apart,” a man (Van Heflin) says in Possessed (1947).
“I hear there’s land there a man has never seen,” Robert Redford says, with a far-off squint, in Jeremiah Johnson (1972).
“What a place, they started a country and nobody showed up,” Rodney Dangerfield says in Meet Wally Sparks (1997).
In honour of Canada’s birthday, the folks at Dear Cast & Crew cut together moments from 150 U.S. films in which Canada is referenced.
As you can see above, many of them assume Canada is empty and cold. In some films Canada is a punchline ( South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, with its theme song, “Blame Canada”). In others, it represents freedom (Chief and McMurphy plan to escape here in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest).
But as the films get newer, you start to notice something: fewer characters mock Canada and more acknowledge its coolness: “We’re not nice, we’re optimistic,” a Canadian says in 2014’s Tusk. “There’s a difference. And we’re tolerant, and we’re hung like moose.”
Further proof of Canada’s ascendancy: George Clooney is called “the Canadian” in Syriana, and Brad Pitt plays a Canadian in three of his most recent films: 12 Years a Slave, The Counselor and Allied. Come on up, gentlemen, we’re still an escape from your country’s mayhem and we still have plenty of room. The Great Canadian Supercut is at dearcastandcrew.com. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on popculture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.