So it turns out the Olympics were a pretty big deal for Canadians. I may have been skeptical, but I can appreciate some of the excitement; whatever your feelings may be on commercialization and costs, it’s nice that so many people can get behind athletes who’ve trained for their entire lives to be good at a sport most people don’t care about for 3 out of every 4 years. And while I have some questions about what “patriotism” really means, it’s nice that people can get excited about being Canadian every once in a while.
But perhaps that just makes it more disappointing when things go back to usual the very next day. The Genie nominations were announced today, and it’s hard to get very excited about them. I want to get excited about them, but I’m not sure if most of the nominees for Best Picture have even played in English-speaking Canada; if they have, it wasn’t for very long.
(It probably goes without saying that Quebec has a different attitude towards “Canadian” culture, since Hollywood doesn’t crank out a lot of French-language films.)
Granted, there are some issues with the Genies, such as not recognizing “Canadian” films that don’t meet the awards’ criteria. But hey, this doesn’t – or at least, shouldn’t – be difficult for people: Here are a bunch of films that are probably pretty good. Could we all see one or two of them between now and April 12th, when the awards are handed out?
I mean, sure, Before Tomorrow probably isn’t many people’s first choice for a relaxing night at the cinema. But outside of the Olympics, no one cares about bobsledding, speed skating, or moguls skiing, either, and we seemed to get pretty excited about them anyway.
The Olympics can be pretty fun, but maybe we could get just a little bit excited about other dedicated and talented Canadians?