A few weeks ago, we were instructed to write an essay about a poem or song that undermines the Grand Canadian Narrative.
For anyone who is actually curious, the Grand Canadian Narrative basically refers to everything and anything positive that Canada stands for. For some reason, I felt the need to analyze the song "Canadian Idiot" by Weird Al Yankovic.
I thought that I would fail the assignment for lack of imagination, but my instructor actually liked my arguments enough to give me an A. And, since this is my blog, I'm subjecting my readers to what I believe is a fantastic spin on a popular song. Also, my aunt lives in Arizona - but was born in Canada - and I think she'll get a kick out of reading it. Here goes...
Undermining the Canadian Grand Narrative in “Canadian Idiot”
A song doesn’t have to be a classic written by a famous musician for it to confront the Canadian grand narrative. American popular culture satirist, Al Yankovic, wrote “Canadian Idiot,” a parody of the hit song “American Idiot.” It focuses on various aspects of Canadian culture. Even though most of the aspects of Canadian culture mentioned are more or less true, the song ultimately undermines the Canadian grand narrative. It is filled with stereotypes, and any stereotype – whether it is portrayed as being positive or negative –simplifies the complexity of a culture, and Yankovic’s lyrics are unable to capture the multifaceted essence of Canada.
There are many generic stereotypes about Canada mentioned throughout the song. Our reputation of being over-indulging, beer-drinking hockey nuts is brought up in the second line. The third line uses the phrase “frostbitten hose-heads,” which is making reference to Bob and Doug McKenzie, a pair of fictional Canadian brothers who hosted “The Great White North” comedy sketch in the 1980s. It was a show that became incredibly popular in both Canada and the United States, and many of the stereotypes it depicted are still believed by Americans today. References are also made to Tim Hortons, Canadian accents, curling, Celine Dion, and the fact that Canadians are overly polite. These are all stereotypes, and even though they aren’t particularly harmful, they undermine all of the important things that Canada stands for.
Throughout the song there are also a number of references regarding deeper, more important issues about Canada. In the second verse the fact that Canadians don’t carry firearms is mentioned, but no effort is taken to dive deeper into the issue. In the fourth verse, it is stated that Canada has “national health care, cheaper meds, low crime rates and clean air.” But, the song doesn’t offer an explanation as to why this is possible. One who doesn’t know better could assume that Canada is a perfectly clean and safe place to live with free health care, but this isn’t necessarily true.
After thoroughly dissecting the lyrics, it’s obvious that research about Canada was conducted before the song was written. The song, however, is chalked full of stereotypes that distract and influence the listener. It isn’t clear what type of country Canada really is, and nothing important is discussed in any great detail. Overall, “Canadian Idiot” definitely undermines the Canadian grand narrative, although that is likely exactly what Yankovic intended to do.
For anyone who is actually curious, the Grand Canadian Narrative basically refers to everything and anything positive that Canada stands for. For some reason, I felt the need to analyze the song "Canadian Idiot" by Weird Al Yankovic.
I thought that I would fail the assignment for lack of imagination, but my instructor actually liked my arguments enough to give me an A. And, since this is my blog, I'm subjecting my readers to what I believe is a fantastic spin on a popular song. Also, my aunt lives in Arizona - but was born in Canada - and I think she'll get a kick out of reading it. Here goes...
Undermining the Canadian Grand Narrative in “Canadian Idiot”
A song doesn’t have to be a classic written by a famous musician for it to confront the Canadian grand narrative. American popular culture satirist, Al Yankovic, wrote “Canadian Idiot,” a parody of the hit song “American Idiot.” It focuses on various aspects of Canadian culture. Even though most of the aspects of Canadian culture mentioned are more or less true, the song ultimately undermines the Canadian grand narrative. It is filled with stereotypes, and any stereotype – whether it is portrayed as being positive or negative –simplifies the complexity of a culture, and Yankovic’s lyrics are unable to capture the multifaceted essence of Canada.
There are many generic stereotypes about Canada mentioned throughout the song. Our reputation of being over-indulging, beer-drinking hockey nuts is brought up in the second line. The third line uses the phrase “frostbitten hose-heads,” which is making reference to Bob and Doug McKenzie, a pair of fictional Canadian brothers who hosted “The Great White North” comedy sketch in the 1980s. It was a show that became incredibly popular in both Canada and the United States, and many of the stereotypes it depicted are still believed by Americans today. References are also made to Tim Hortons, Canadian accents, curling, Celine Dion, and the fact that Canadians are overly polite. These are all stereotypes, and even though they aren’t particularly harmful, they undermine all of the important things that Canada stands for.
Throughout the song there are also a number of references regarding deeper, more important issues about Canada. In the second verse the fact that Canadians don’t carry firearms is mentioned, but no effort is taken to dive deeper into the issue. In the fourth verse, it is stated that Canada has “national health care, cheaper meds, low crime rates and clean air.” But, the song doesn’t offer an explanation as to why this is possible. One who doesn’t know better could assume that Canada is a perfectly clean and safe place to live with free health care, but this isn’t necessarily true.
After thoroughly dissecting the lyrics, it’s obvious that research about Canada was conducted before the song was written. The song, however, is chalked full of stereotypes that distract and influence the listener. It isn’t clear what type of country Canada really is, and nothing important is discussed in any great detail. Overall, “Canadian Idiot” definitely undermines the Canadian grand narrative, although that is likely exactly what Yankovic intended to do.
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Just in case you're curious, here's the video, with lyrics:
Amanda, Great analysis. Agree with everything you said. And many Americans do think the things mentioned represent Canadians as a whole & there are jokes down here about how nice Canadians are, "eh", etc.
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