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Originally Posted by aberkok
I think that was a beautiful summary of what the Canadian identity is. It's almost as if we arrive at an identity through a non-identity.
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This needs a new thread. I invite you to kick it off, aberkok.
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Originally Posted by Charlatan
As a nation of 31 million (or so) it is econmomically difficult to compete with what can be produced on basis of a population of 300 million.
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I think this is where many of the problems lie--not so much in what is being created as how it is distributed. Regardless of the quality of cultural products being generated, the U.S. products have dominance mainly because of the amount of resources available. Just think of book publishing alone: there is nothing short of a glut of titles being produced in the U.S. Are they experiencing a golden age of literature? I think it was Plato who theorized the cycle of devaluing aesthetics in literature and attributed them to golden, silver, bronze, and iron. I think he forgot one "substance": information. So, wouldn't you know that even Plato couldn't predict the information age of "literature" that is Dan-Browning on right now?
Can we apply the information age to the other aspects of culture: film, television, new media, magazines, visual arts, etc.? Should Americans think about this before expressing their pride? Or is their pride exclusive to their support for their military industrial complex (hense the "chest-thumping")?
When we think of the failure of the most powerful empire in history, we think of the Roman Empire. When we think of Rome, do we think of art? Not likely; this is because they ripped off the ancient Greeks (and poorly)--and their military/political accomplishments were unprecedented. What do you think the ancient Romans were most proud of?