Canada's Hollywood: The Canadian State and Feature Films (State and Economic Life)

The development of the feature film industry in Canada has been uncertain and difficult, with problems usually attributed to the country's small population and US domination of the movie industry. Ted Magder goes beyond these obvious influences in his examination of Canada's state policies as they affected the production of Canadian feature films from the First World War to the present. He presents a study focusing on the interplay between government policy and the dynamics of the industry, and undertakes an examination of cultural dependency in Canada. State policies, Magder points out, are related to domestic forces that impinge upon and set limits to policy decisions and their implementation.
In the immediate postwar period, the tone for much of Canada's cultural policies was set by the National Film Board and the recommendations of the Massey Commission. Members of both organizations expressed distaste for films designed to entertain and deemed feature filmmaking unworthy of support. A change of heart took place in the watershed year of 1967 with the passing of the Canadian Film Development Corporation Act, when Canadians finally entered the business of feature film production. Magder considers how this came to pass, what had changed within the industry itself to make feature film production viable, and why the state changed its position from one of neglect to one of support. In the last five chapters, he examines the contradictions and limitations that have bedevilled Canadian feature film production over the last two decades.
In his conclusion, Magder proposes that both the notion of cultural dependency and the goal of public support for cultural production to express national identity need to be re-examined.

Ted Magder is Director of the Mass Communication Program at York University.