wild goose chase
Active Member
On discussions of why Toronto seems not to have a strong homegrown cultural imprint on mass media, with Drake one of the few more recent celebrities to represent and show pride in the city as is, you often hear about how celebrities get their bearings here, launch their career and move on to the US.
It seems like this goes really far back and it can be argued that in fact Toronto has more often than being known for homegrown culture, instead acted as the place of origin for a lot of what is seen as American culture because so many celebrities had gotten started here.
Some examples
- The archetypal American superhero Superman was co-created by Torontonian-born Joe Shuster in the 1920s with the Daily Planet based on the Old Toronto star building and Metropolis based on the city.
-Also in the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway, probably the most famous American author to reside here, jump-started his career here working for the Toronto Star. Thinking the city boring and lackluster and not really enjoying his years here, he moved on elsewhere (Paris etc.) where he then went on to make his fame.
- Toronto has become a city known for exporting comedians -- Second City/SCTV, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, also Samantha Bee and the Daily Show etc. in the 80s, 90s and 2000s respectively.
-TIFF has grown from being seen as too parochial, provincial and local as a film festival to being world-renowned, second only to Cannes. Famously, Hollywood (and international) movies often have their debuts at TIFF and doing well in the festival is now seen as a pathway towards the Oscars.
So, it seems like one of Toronto's major exports essentially is mass media that later becomes quintessential Americana. Anything Torontonian therefore gets stripped of local identifiers and framed as typically American.
Do you see this relationship between Toronto and American pop culture changing any time soon?
It seems like this goes really far back and it can be argued that in fact Toronto has more often than being known for homegrown culture, instead acted as the place of origin for a lot of what is seen as American culture because so many celebrities had gotten started here.
Some examples
- The archetypal American superhero Superman was co-created by Torontonian-born Joe Shuster in the 1920s with the Daily Planet based on the Old Toronto star building and Metropolis based on the city.
-Also in the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway, probably the most famous American author to reside here, jump-started his career here working for the Toronto Star. Thinking the city boring and lackluster and not really enjoying his years here, he moved on elsewhere (Paris etc.) where he then went on to make his fame.
- Toronto has become a city known for exporting comedians -- Second City/SCTV, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, also Samantha Bee and the Daily Show etc. in the 80s, 90s and 2000s respectively.
-TIFF has grown from being seen as too parochial, provincial and local as a film festival to being world-renowned, second only to Cannes. Famously, Hollywood (and international) movies often have their debuts at TIFF and doing well in the festival is now seen as a pathway towards the Oscars.
So, it seems like one of Toronto's major exports essentially is mass media that later becomes quintessential Americana. Anything Torontonian therefore gets stripped of local identifiers and framed as typically American.
Do you see this relationship between Toronto and American pop culture changing any time soon?