Desiring Canada: CBC Contests, Hockey Violence and Other Stately Pleasures - Book Report/Review Example

Desiring Canada: CBC Contests, Hockey Violence and Other ly Pleasures Introduction Desiring Canada: CBC Contests, Hockey Violence, and Other Stately Pleasures is a book by Patricia Cormack and James Cosgrave. It is about the Canadian identity and its history. The book explains what it means to be Canadian and the image of Canada all over the world. The writers dwell on the questions of whom does Canada represent? What it means to be Canadian, and whether Canadians create the impression of who they are or whether people create for them. The book explains the relationship between the most popular expressions of Canada’s national unity. The examples include popular CBC contests, advertising campaigns by Tim Horton, television comedy, NHL Hockey Violence and gambling business in the country. The extent at which the state interest’s appeal through the media to what the citizens’ want in their lives helps us understand the meaning and what it means being Canadian. Discussion CBC’s audience-participation contests The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is a publicly owned national television station. It is a unique cultural site that has special responsibilities that oppose to the privately owned media stations. The state’s mandate is to provide entertainment to the people and also foster national unity. A part of the pleasure of being a CBC audience is the conflicting expectations the Canadian people have on the organization. There has been a vibrant discussion in the country over the role of CBC in national unity (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p. 20). The writers’ view that CBC encourages the crisis, they are facing at the moment, its legitimacy as the country’s cultural institution. CBC is an object of vital importance to its audience. The survival of the organization depends on the many controversies facing it. CBC has many detractors who always find ammunitions in terms of their mandates. The CBC contests seek to gather valued Canadian things, places, people, and culture of the people through audience participation and voting. The surge in popularity of reality TV over the past decade is what has led to this type of programming in CBC. Reality TV is the most popular television genres among the Canadians (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p. 23). The way the Canadians have embraced the programming shows the culture of the people. The people prefer to see what is true rather than a scripted play. The genre encompasses shows from makeover of cars, bodies, houses, etc. programming to occupational type of programming to competitions to “just living” kind of programming. The list of reality TV in CBC is endless as there are many shows. The Seven Wonders of Canada contest was on CBC in 2007. The contest involved CBC’s radio listeners and television audience to participate in finding seven wonderful places in Canada. The project revealed tension within CBC to manage collective collecting desires. The mechanism of management of the project overshadowed the magical practice of the project thus producing disenchantment among the participants, the organization and the government (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p. 35). The audience criticized the organization wondering if it has the mandate of knowing the nation’s collective self-desire. The tensions increased as the project climaxed. The project made people know how much Canadians want to guard their history and culture in the things they have in the country. The Obama playlist contest involves contestants coming up with a Canadian playlist of songs that the winner will use during Obama’s inauguration after winning the US elections. It followed through Obama’s pre-election interview with the Rolling Stone magazine, where he revealed his taste in music. The problems in the seven wonder contests were not in the Obama playlist contest. Audiences, however still criticized the show for the assumption on how to administer the vote and still maintain diversity. The history of Canadian cultural policy came to play during the contest. The CBC’s genre distinctions of the playlist offer a way of understanding the Canadian cultural policy (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p. 50). It also offers a taste of the audience taste in music. The authors tell the story of CBC and the contest to help the reader understand Canadian culture. The reader is made to grasp the problems facing CBC and the state. Advertising campaigns by Tim Horton Tim Horton has blended into the character of Canada completely as evident in the book. Tim Horton coffee shops are all over Canada. The enterprise has positioned itself as a public sphere. Tim Horton has continuously marketed itself as a cultural site in Canada. It has the articulation of Canadian values, and state and government people have come there to their political appearances. The book gives the coffee shop as established in 1964 with only one shop in Hamilton, Ontario (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p. 70). Apart from coffee, the shop sells donuts and other snacks. The coffee shop has more than 3000 outlets all over Canada. The company is now a public traded company as most of its restaurants has franchises. The company uses nationalism as one of its branding strategies. The “I am Canadian” ad for the enterprise is so popular that politicians also use its lines during campaigns. The Heritage Minister used the slogan in 2002 International Press Institute Conference to talk about the culture of Canadians. He explains how culture to them is an expression of their soul and who they are. Tim Horton is the most successful commercial enterprise in Canada to market itself with nationalism and pride of country. The enterprise binds the role consumer and citizen in a social and political way. The writer terms the union as a civic and commercial nationalism. The coffee shop cultures itself with aligning itself with the country’s collective values (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p. 73). Tim Horton coffee shop depicts the Canadians ritual of welcoming and hospitality according to the authors. Only rural people cannot access a Tim Horton. The problem with the enterprise is that every simple mistake it makes grabs national headlines. The headlines of the Tim Horton coffee shop were firing a single mom over ‘Timbit’ made headlines, making one wonder if the only people not supposed to be at the coffee shop are murderers. If an employee or a customer does something wrong, then they should be able to face the consequences no matter their position. The coffee shop is so popular that there is a skit about it, shot at the shops. Some people believe the coffee has a secret ingredient that attracts customers. NHL Hockey Violence The book looks at Hockey Violence in the country and how the state controls the violence. The state can control every aspect of violence in Canada games except when it comes to hockey stadiums and their violence. Hockey is the sport that Canada best associates with and it is a cultural site in the country (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p. 130). There is a difference between a hockey and the other games according to the writers. The authors are wondering what it is about the game that make the fans so aggressive and lead to violence. The persistence of violence and fighting in Canadian hockey is sociologically significant in the country. The acceptance of the violence in the stadiums only means that there is no controlling the emotions of the people who are enjoying the game. It also shows the Canadian civilization and the state process. The hockey games and the violence involved built the national identity of Canada and its people. Is there a direct relationship between the state and the hockey violence? The role the state is supposed to play in the hockey games remains as a complex matter. The violence on the ice is a legitimate violence, according to the people. The author tries to find answers as to why the violence is allowed by government forces (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p. 133). The violence in the arena shows how passionate the players and the fans are but then it is a dangerous act that could leave someone dead. The right of the state to represent itself, but not the right of the people to freedom of expression protects the games. Violence is by no means an expression of one’s freedom as it is wrong according to the law. The violence is an expression of multi-culture in Canada. Hockey Night in Canada is the longest running TV program in Canada. The hockey night is a national tradition in the country. It is an important representative, builder and communicator of the Canadian people (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p. 134). The broadcast brings the merging of the nation’s spectacles and those of Entertainment. It also shows the place of violence in bringing the Canadian identity. Hockey is the Canadian people’s game. The violence in the games should however not extend to domestic violence. Gambling business in Canada Unlike CBC and Hockey, gambling cannot exactly be said to be a true representation of the Canadian people. There is nothing unique about Canadian gambling, but the author finds it important and interesting to talk about it. The writers concern is how the state is part of the gambling business. Gambling makes the people curious about what the state’s take is on it. Gambling in Canada is a legalized activity which seems to be here to stay. The activity might end up being a state-owned activity at the rate of which it is taking course (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p.134). The government governs the people using the slot machines and video gaming lottery. There are several bets that are legally available to the citizens. There has been a general trajectory that gambling has followed in Canada. The gambling centers have the government as its owner. It shows the states relation to pleasure. The states try to connect to the people by having a social relationship through gambling. The legalization implies liberation of the country. The conditions, however, are that the place has to be owned by the government for one to enjoy the social pleasure. Gambling as a hobby, however, depicts the problem of desire. The activity is addictive and dangerous. Gambling has advantages in that the state can collect revenue from the activity. The loss of the person gambling is, however, harmful than the benefit the government gets from it. Gambling is, therefore, a threat to the societal values and does not depict Canada in good light. There are critics who say the activity is profligate, immoral, and deviant. Gambling is the most problematic topic the writers had to talk about in the entire book. Better understanding of Canada since 1945 The book talks about Canada’s history and its traditions. The main topics of the book are activities that have been taking place in Canada for the longest time. The media station CBC has been government owned since its inception in 1930s. The organization helps Canadians understand the importance of nationalism and tradition since it has been around for a long time. The network became popular in the 1940s and has never lost its popularity since then (Cormack and Cosgrave, 2013 p. 20). The Obama contests were about Canada history and culture in the music industry. The country is rich in music history as the contestants in the show proved. The music by the country’s legends is a form of identity for the people. The Canadian people identify themselves with music and music stars all over the world. The book makes one understand how this was possible. The ice hockey games are known all over the world as the Canadian sports. There are several sports events around the year about ice hockey, but the Hockey Nights are the major events. Every individual looks up to the hockey night games. The activity is however marred by violence. The violence is part of the tradition in the games. The government is reluctant when it comes to dealing with the violence as it is the country’s identity and a way of socializing with the people. Gambling is a legal activity, and the gambling centers are state-owned itself. It shows how the state accepts its people and how it gains from the activity. There is revenue collected from it. A few countries involve themselves with gambling as a legal activity. The fact that the activity is legal in Canada is a form of the national identity. Conclusion The book has a common theme among its entire topic. Is the theme of national identity, the relationship between the state and its people and pleasure of the people. The book makes one have a better understanding of Canada’s rich and diverse culture in music, identity and traditions. The coffee shop is the oldest meeting place where social and political events of the people of Canada take place. It is a culture to meet at Tim Horton’s coffee shop. References Cormack, P., & Cosgrave, J. (2013). Desiring Canada: CBC Contests, Hockey Violence, and Other Stately Pleasures. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division. Read More