POP-CULTURE COLUMN: How Canadians Have Enriched American Culture
By Dan Brown The United States of America doesn’t need Canada. That might be true. But in these tense times, a gentle reminder may be in order. Such a reminder could help to repair the fractured relations between our two nations by listing all the ways Canada (through individual Canadians) has enriched American culture over the decades. You can probably come up with your own list, so consider this one a starting point. It’s in no particular order. *Mary Pickford: America’s Sweetheart was born in Toronto. Hollywood’s first millionaire, she was one of the co-founders of the United Artists film studio, which was designed to be a haven for creative types where they didn’t have to answer to the studio bosses. She also helped found the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which lives on to this day in the form of the Oscars. James Cameron, to name just one example, is a Canadian who followed in Pickford’s footsteps, becoming a modern-day titan in Tinseltown. Imagine how many American jobs Canadians have created in Los Angeles! *The SCTV gang: John Candy, Catherine O’Hara, Rick Moranis, and others. They reflected a slightly skewed version of smalltown America – Melonville – back at American viewers, making them laugh and think about their own lives and institutions. *Dan Aykroyd, the Kingston funnyman who was on a mission from God to save the blues. The 1980 comedy the Blues Brothers came at a crucial time in the history of the blues, one of America’s truly original art forms. It helped to reignite interest in rhythm and blues music at a time when disco ruled. Aykroyd and his American partner John Belushi famously returned the royalties from their cover songs to the original artists, who had not been treated kindly by the record companies. If not for Akyroyd and Belushi, who knows how music history would have turned out. *James Naismith was born before Confederation and went on to be a McGill University educator before inventing basketball. Arguably the second-most popular spectator sport in the United States, basketball has generated billions of dollars in revenues for U.S. individuals and companies – where would Nike be without hoops? Professional basketball has now grown into a business with a global presence, inspiring leagues around the world. *Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Tommy Chong, and others. They all make America laugh, which is no small feat. *Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Yes, the Americans claim him, as do the Scottish, but let’s go ahead and lay claim to him anyway. The cellphone – evolving through the decades off of Bell’s origins designs – is arguably the most-used, most important invention on the planet today. Canada had at least something to do with its inception. *Justin Bieber was born in London and raised in Stratford, and went on to conquer the world of popular music at the beginning of this century! And he’s still at it! *Filmmaker Norman Jewison directed a long list of movies, becoming one of the most influential figures in 1970s America. If you zero in on just one of those films, In the Heat of the Night, you can see how he helped bridge the racial divide in the United States at a time of high tension between black and white Americans. For that movie alone, he is surely owed some props. *Lorne Michaels is one of the most powerful people in show biz. He took his idea for a late-night variety show to the TV powers-that be in the United States and turned it into an American cultural institution that has launched the careers of countless actors, writers and producers. I would love for a business-type person to try to calculate the economic impact of more than 50 years of Saturday Night Live, including the movie spinoffs the series has spawned. Honorary mentions: Neil Young (ally to one side or the other of the political spectrum), Margaret Atwood (warned against a theocratic future America), Marshall McLuhan (visionary media thinker who came up with the term “global village.”), Celine Dion (what would Las Vegas be without her?). When you look at a list like this, it’s hard not to conclude that Canada has had a bigger impact on the United States than any other country. Remember, the above are just a few examples. But who would you add? Leave your candidates in the comments! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 34 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
The Blues Brothers Return in Comic Form
By Dan Brown John Belushi may be dead, but Jake Blues lives on. He’s the McGuffin in the graphic novel The Return of the Blues Brothers: The Escape of Joliet Jake. You may remember him as the rotund half of the brotherhood that first appeared in the classic big-screen comedy The Blues Brothers. This 128-page sequel is aimed at the small sliver of the Venn diagram where comic fandom and Blues Brothers fandom overlap. In other words, yours truly is the target audience. The book goes off in new directions, which is a good thing, while maintaining enough of the flavour of the 1980 film to stay true to its essence. It features a new pair of brothers – a Chicago cop and a young black musician – in some familiar situations. As you may recall, the Blues Brothers were last seen performing their brand of soulful music in the Joliet Correctional Center. (This comic ignores, wisely, the awful 1998 sequel Blues Brothers 2000.) Joliet Jail is also where it begins, with Belushi’s character absconding from the prison, which is a mystery. Where did eh go? And why would the convicted felon take off just days before he was set to be released? The plot also involves a legendary briefcase containing the sheet music to unreleased blues classics. As far as the creative team goes, I hesitated before opening the book. I was put off by the fact three writers (including Dan Aykroyd’s daughter, Stella) are credited with coming up with the story and dialogue. Committee-written literature of any kind is usually a disaster – I was happily surprised, though. I need not have worried. The art is by Felipe Sobreiro, whose warm lines remind me of Robert Crumb, especially in flashback scenes. There are some updates to Blues Brothers lore. We discover that Elwood Blues has been ordained as a priest, and we learn the origin story of Curtis, the orphanage caretaker who raised Jake and Elwood, imbuing them with their love of James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and others. Some elements of the story were inspired by Dan Aykroyd’s original, telephone-book size Blues Brothers script that director John Landis wasn’t able to shoehorn into the motion picture. And although the original duo are present, they aren’t the focus of this tale. One of the messages emerging from the graphic novel: Anyone can be a Blues Brother. If you recall, a lot of far-out stuff happened in the Blues Brothers movie. When an apartment building is hit with a bazooka, it collapses, but Elwood and Jake are unharmed, dusting themselves off and walking away from the massive pile of brick and debris. There is a scene with an impossible number of police cars crashing. A nun floats on air in another. Worshippers at a church service bounce and jump in the air, reaching the ceiling. What I’m saying is: The Blues Brothers was already a comic-book movie. So offering a sequel in graphic-novel form is not such a great leap as you would imagine. One other unrealistic plot point that could only happen in the movies: A church is forced to pay taxes! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 34 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
