Olympics Closing Ceremony

I believe that in the Olympic closing ceremonies, the encoder wanted to code in this production the idea that Canadians can poke fun at themselves-that we have a sense of humour regarding the common stereotypes surrounding us. The entire spectacle seemed to be a mockery of all that is considered "Canadian." From speeches containing the word "eh" to another speech dedicated to our apparent tendency to always be polite and say "I’m sorry," to a huge assembly that included giant beavers and flying moose, lumberjacks, Mounties, hockey players, and maple leafs. To quote the announcer: "If anybody did a Vegas act of all the Canadian stereotypes, this would be it." All of these symbols, images and icons appeared with a fairly obvious mockery to it, it did not seem to be present to be taken seriously. The encoder took the common misconceptions about Canada and presented them in a manner to make fun in order to demonstrate that Canadians have a sense of humour. Some Canadians might decode this differently, thinking that it’s ridiculous to further our stereotypes like that. People from other countries might not decode it this way either, they may take it seriously that this is all that Canada is about-they may not grasp that the encoder meant for it to be taken lightly and thus view us as nothing more than canoe carrying lumberjacks who live in igloos and drink beer.

As for me, I think I am a negotiated reader. I partly agreed with the code in this production. I like that we can make fun of our own stereotypes and laugh about it because I know that we are not just what the stereotypes say we are. I can accept the text’s code but I can modify it according to my own personal interests, experiences and my overall position. I am Canadian, but I do not, for the most part, like beer. I’m not obsessed with hockey. I don’t live in an igloo or a log cabin in the mountains surrounded by moose and beavers. I believe that I’m polite because that is how I was raised and yes, I do say "eh." So I can laugh along with the majority at the Canadian stereotypes because I know that we are more than what they make us out to be. I just think that we should work harder at proving that to the rest of the world.