Eugene Walz writes: > > >But the movie was much better to look at than the boring, typically > >Canadian yawner of a book was to read. At least it had nice landscapes, some > > violence, a bit of tasteful nudity. The book was drab through and through. > > For all those Screen-L people coming to the Society for Cinema Studies > conference in Ottawa this May, the above quote will provide an introduction > to an amusing variety of Canadian. You may have seen his brothers Bob and > Doug on SCTV. Having read more than one book, he is confident enough to > disparage not only a national literature but his own nation. Come on up and > see for yourself. > Gene, I prefer another type of the national stereotype -- there's a whole bunch of jokes based on this subset printed on the last page of sec. 1 in today's Globe and Mail. For example, how do you empty a swimming pool full of Canadians? You say, "Would everyone please leave the pool?" Between the two of us and everyone else who is reading the list, I'm with the Elaine Bennis character on THE ENGLISH PATIENT. Throughout the movie, I kept hearing Mel Brooks voice from the film THE CRITIC sighing, "Oy! Eight-fifty out the window, Murray! The man who made this movie, why doesn't he learn to do something useful. Make a shoe." As for the SCS, on behalf of the Site Committee I'd like to invite people to see a wide variety of real Canadian films at the screenings that will be held concurrently with the Conference in Ottawa. THE ENGLISH PATIENT bears as much resemblance to Canadian cinema as A PASSAGE TO INDIA or A ROOM WITH A VIEW bear to Indian and Italian cinema. And we have more kinds of films than there are goofy stereotypes of Canadians. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Langer Email address: [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]