Every year for the past 16 years, I rewatch the entirety of Gilmore Girls, starting in October and ending some time in the spring.
But this year, I found myself a little distracted from my comfort watch in its later seasons. As Rory dropped out of Yale and Lorelai proposed to Luke*, the American president started threatening and implementing tariffs on Canadian goods.
The tariffs made me more nationalistic than ever before. I tried to Buy Canadian for every item, even purchasing a $30 shampoo that I hate because a Vancouver company manufactures it.
Yet every night, I would continue to watch Gilmore Girls or read Taffy Brodesser-Akner or listen to Taylor Swift. But halfway through season six of Gilmore Girls, it dawned on me that I forgot to boycott America’s largest export: its culture.
When I looked around my house — the artwork, the books, the few DVDs — I was totally surrounded by the U.S. It had crept into my house and my country and my mind, and it wasn’t going anywhere. My collection of culture fixated itself squarely in Somewhere, U.S.A.
I realized that American artists create almost every piece of media I consume. I can’t remember the last time I watched a Canadian TV show. Americans wrote 36 of the 43 books I read last year. I listen to podcasts about urban development in New York City!
I’m partially to blame for this. In the past, I’ve been skeptical of Canadian culture. I remember when Schitt’s Creek and Workin’ Moms first debuted on CBC, I thought: ugh, another sad attempt at relevancy from our national broadcaster. But once I saw that Netflix picked the shows up, I decided to give them a try. Turns out I love both Schitt’s Creek and Workin’ Moms, but I would have never given them a chance if an American streamer hadn’t served them up to me — despite them streaming for years, and for free, on CBC Gem.
Now that I’m feeling more proud to be Canadian, I realize how much I let myself live at the mercy of the American cultural influence. The problem is now that I can’t eliminate American culture from my media consumption, not because it’s impossible (though it’s hard), but because it has shaped me. It will never leave me and, frankly, I’ve grown to love it too much to leave it behind. It would devastate me to stop watching Gilmore Girls once a year.
Plus, I don’t hate Americans, especially not American artists, like Alexis Bledel, Taffy Brodesser-Akner or Taylor Swift. I just hate the loser in charge of their country. Is he enough of a reason to boycott artists — whose own art may help us imagine how we get out of his current mess?
I don’t want to cut myself off from American culture — and I don’t know if that’s the best way to fight back against the U.S. government. But I clearly need to engage with more Canadian culture. I want to start watching In Memoriam** and wearing more Cheekbone Beauty lipstick and reading more Margaret Atwood (who I’ve never read before, how embarrassing!).
It shouldn’t be too hard to integrate more Canadian culture in my life, right? But it isn’t always easy. Canada lacks robust arts and culture coverage, as I know from publishing many of my own culture-related stories with U.S. publications because Canada doesn’t have the market for them. We don’t have equivalents of New York Magazine, The New York Times Book Review or Vanity Fair. Arts and culture budgets at Canadian legacy media publications have been cut over the years, and many smaller culture outlets can’t afford to stay afloat. I usually turn to American magazines to tell me about cultural trends and their thoughts on new movies, TV shows, books and music. Understandably, those American writers don’t pay much attention to Canadian culture, so I miss out on our own stuff.
I don’t want to miss out anymore. I want to tune in, pay attention and document Canadian culture. And that’s what I plan to do with this newsletter. I’ll write essays about cultural trends, report on artistic regulations, interview musicians and list my favourite Canadian books or movies or clothes.
Can’t wait to tell you more about my discoveries.
Xo
Sabina
PS If you have any recommendations/ideas/suggestions, please send them over!
*Sorry for the spoilers, but, come on, this show has been off the air for nearly 20 years.
**Apparently, an amazing Quebec TV show.