Comments on: RBO et al need to understand anglos better

By: Pierre Phaneuf

Pierre Phaneuf — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:53:55 +0000

Can't find any link to it, but RBO's "Le Quatrième Reich" was a much better treatment on the general subject of anglo/franco relationships, back in the day, pissing all over Godwin in the process, of course. And most of my anglo friends found it hilarious...

By: Macleans.ca - Bad satire, meet good satire

Macleans.ca - Bad satire, meet good satire — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:26:29 +0000

[...] couple of days ago, this guy named Fagstein blew a gasket over the poor state of satire in this here pretty province. He posted a video, itself recently posted by noted metrosexual blogger Patrick Lagacé, of a clip [...]

By: BruB

BruB — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:39:39 +0000

Justin Timberlake as a Québécois in the love guru.
'nough said!

By: karine

karine — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:23:34 +0000

I agree with your point but the opposite can be said also. In fact, this isn't just a French/anglo thing, it is true whenever someone of a particular culture makes fun or just portrays another culture. I've complained for years whenever I see Americans try to do a Québécois but with a French from France accent, not to mention that they seem to think that they have the same idiosyncrasies. Same thing with Haitians, they just go for a generic portrayal of Caribeans. And if I may say so, I have rarely seen a TV sketch Canadian military that I've found funny, for exactly the same reasons, especially in the Québécois media.

By: Corinthian Rick

Corinthian Rick — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:40:36 +0000

I'm a hard ass anglo and I found it sorta funny mostly. The business about Damphousse scoring nine goals was misdirected but the rest had its moments.

By: James Lawlor

James Lawlor — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:47:57 +0000

Fagstein:

You could write the very same thing and reverse the words 'French' with 'English'. You don't even have too look very far to see recent examples in the English media of what you are complaining about in the French media.

This weeks 22 minutes:
http://www.cbc.ca/22minutes/videoplayer2.html#Scene_1
Click on the 'Quebec Election' video at the bottom of the window

As an anglophone Quebecer since 15 years (I moved here from B.C.), I found this sketch wrong in two ways.
1) The jokes fell flat.
2) Unfunny stereotypes

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:07:40 +0000

Neil, this isn't racism. Let's keep this in perspective. It was a mean-spirited parody in a time when the province was very divided. But their goal was still humour, even if I think they failed at that objective beyond preaching to the choir.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:05:50 +0000

I agree that caricatures of franco Québécois can be much worse than this (and that "I am not Canadian" is a damn funny exception). Perhaps we need to send cultural ambassadors between English Canada and French Quebec, so that we can learn to understand each other better. Anglos can be forced to watch Tout le monde en parle instead of just Bleu Nuit, while francos will have to sit through a taping of This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:48:43 +0000

It's sad when some francophone makes fun of anglophones and hides behind "artistic licence." (For example, check out the subtle discrimination in this video by Quebec artist Michel Rivard of Beau Dommage on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhgv85m852Q)
I hope more anglos are willing to call this what it is: mean-spirited prejudice. The people behind this so-called parody are racists, pure and simple. There's a difference between dialect humour and venal prejudice. These guys obviously hate anglos.

By: BruB

BruB — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:49:44 +0000

I'll tell you my background before I start. Born and raise in the sud-ouest, in mostly english part of Verdun, separatist with a reason that is NOT language, and now, working in the West Island in a mostly english industry. Point is, I love english Montrealers. I love when I see someone from Toronto coming to Montreal and deciding to move here after all. I really believe that English Montrealers, dislike as much the rest of Canada as most Quebécois. English Montrealers like the Auf Der Mar, Richler, Cohen are more Québécois than some that are here and claiming the language difference. That being said. As a french speaking, Plateau snob, watching Radio-Canada news and hipsters reading mostly blogs and watching podcast I always felt weird watching CTV or, back then, CFCF news, it always felt exactly like this caricature from RBO. I always felt that it was condescending and that most of the reporters were in Montreal hoping to get transfer to Calgary or Toronto. Keep in mind that this RBO skits was made back in the early 90's and it was a bit of a different time 15-20 years ago. I travel a lot and I'm certain that a lot of the readers do also and ROC doesn't understand what's happening here and most of them don't want to and the fun poked at french-canadian is sometime funny but most of time is done by people that actually never came here and are using guidelines from other parodies and stereotypes. Example of Funny: The "I am not canadian" parody by edge 102 in T.O.