Pictures of home

Although the culture of complaint was audible at the Banff Television Festival this year amidst a backdrop of rain, traffic jams and elk with an attitude, a wake-up call against cultural assault provided welcome fodder for thought and solidarity.

In the keynote address, Dr. Patricia Edgar, director of the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, spoke of a bond between nations who ‘struggle to maintain any expression of our own cultures in the face of American global culture.’

She chronicled a generation of Australians who grew up wanting to be Betty Grable, whose daughters dreamed of being Jeannie, the dearth of homegrown images leaving them feeling that being Australian was ‘dull and drearyÉ.’ ‘Cultural cringe,’ Edgar warned, is cultural collapse.

Australian film began to revive in the ’70s when a labor government swept in change, arts boards and tv content quotas. An audience for homegrown fare grew, local issues and attitudes gained respect, and now children Down Under have local heroes.

Edgar feels this ground is being threatened by the global tv market and government’s ‘economic rationalization’ philosophy. Sound familiar?

With 85% of the world’s trade in a/v product controlled by the u.s., and less than 2% of the American big and small screen time taken up with foreign programming, Edgar argues the imbalance is dangerous for all concerned, including the u.s., which has effectively closed its doors to alternate visions at a time when they’re sorely needed.

Describing its images as ones of ‘aggression and malaiseÉfrom a society in crisis,’ Edgar says: ‘America has less and less to teach us. Twelve-year-olds have babies in America, 15-year-olds kill each other, 17-year-olds have aids and 18-year-olds get diplomas they can’t read.’

Discussing the growing open-market cult, Edgar quoted John O’Neill: ‘The state is not an alien force in our livesÉit’s merely our own will to achieve together what we have no chance of accomplishing on our own.’

Opinion as to how the state is faring in Canada differs.

A recent report tabled in Paris by a French Senate committee looking for a/v policy direction, had a lot of praise for the broadcasting system in Canada, calling the regulatory approach to preserving its cultural identity and economy ‘particularly original and hold(s) many lessons.’

On the other hand we have an arts group calling on the Canadian government to protect our cultural identity on the I-Way, saying despite the cultural policies we have in place, we have American domination of our media.

The prognosis? Edgar is heartened by the globalism side effect – growing localism. She advocates continued investment in our own programs, and nation-bonding among folk outside the u.s.: ‘We should work together to increase the trade between us.’

As to the art of the small screens – what Banff is all about – there was also some provocative vision.

In the packed ‘TV With An Attitude’ session, executive producer Lucie Amyot of La Chaine struck a chord, saying: ‘I’ve always believed that if you have public money you must take risk. You shouldn’t be doing commercial tv with public money.’

Amyot believes tv should have artistic value. ‘tv is an ogre, not a gourmet or an epicure. I think there’s room to develop a small ogre with better tasteÉwhy can’t tv become le huitieme art?’