Canadian vs. American Stereotypes (Canadian Bacon)

In the movie Canadian Bacon the Canadian and American stereotypes are almost complete opposites. Canadians are presented as overly kind, saying sorry when others run into them, ignoring outlandish statements against Canada written on the side of a van (choosing instead to make the perpetrators follow language laws by writing it all again in french) and arresting the CEO of a company that did a hostile takeover over many smaller companies. Canadians are also very clean, have a more stable economy (more jobs) and are more peaceful.

Americans are much less well mannered. They are stereotyped as rednecks. They all have guns, dress in old, dirty clothes and are very unkempt. America itself is shown to be polluted, there are layoffs and easy access to high grade weapons. The country has romanticized war, when a president besides to go to war his ratings increase. American people are presented as gullible blindly following their president and believing what ever is shown on t.v.

Many of these stereotypes I do not agree with. The ones I see some truth to are very exaggerated. Let me start with the Canadian stereotypes. We do say sorry a lot, even when its not our fault. This does not include getting bowled over from behind. In that case someone is obviously at fault. Only the the aggressor would say sorry in that case. We do have language laws but those are almost exclusive to Quebec. We do not arrest people for doing things generally regarded as cruel or disrespectful. We are a clean country, we do have signs saying "thank you for not littering" and have fines for littering but it is not an obsession of ours. The American stereotypes I can not accurately explain. However, I do know that although there are times when there is easy access to weapons, the weapons easily available are not rocket launchers or military rifles. In recent years due to the recession there has been a lot of layoffs. That stereotype is true for modern times. America has made its presence felt in many theatres of wars. Wars have made or broken presidencies. North American society has romanticized war, not just the states. Movies until very recently have made war seem almost glamorous. I would not label the U.S. as warmongers as there is a lot of public outcry against their presence in Iraq. Many people in North America have a tendency to believe what ever is said on t.v., but this is not exclusive to the USA. I have trouble analyzing the stereotypes of Americans.

I have seen all these stereotypes show up in many movies, both the American and Canadian ones. I think this is because people are used to those stereotypes and to suddenly show a true image of Canada or the USA in a film would seem too foreign and unbelievable to audiences.