A nation is a group of people who share the same illusions about themselves.
The series portrayed the concept and construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway during the late 19th century, with Berton himself as narrator.
In other words, it was a giant money-laundering scheme.
The time is past when a single master narrative could sum up the complexity of our national experience.
A nation is a group of people who share the same illusions about themselves. There are many histories of Canada depending on who is telling the story and from what perspective. Thank you.
The driving of the last spike in 1885 that completed the line has come to symbolize the birth of the nation. This series follows the long struggle to realize Macdonald's National Dream through the initial surveying, the political scandals and infighting even as the colourful builders struggle to conquer the difficult geography in their construction of a railway that would help secure and define a nation. Royal Trust, which was the executor of Cornelius Van Horne's estate, paid $400,000 to be a principal sponsor. Beginning as part of Prime Minister John A Macdonald's deal in 1871 to have British Columbia join Canada, the project seemed foolhardy for such a young nation. Talk about couples goals!
Rather, they are simplified expressions of what we think happened.
Vancouver cyberpunk novelist William Gibson calls it "consensual hallucination. Nowadays, history is about the juggling of perspectives, not the dreaming of national dreams. But we forget that the force was created as a secret service to spy on Canadians and repress legitimate political activity.
The National Dream combined dramatic reconstructions of the events (directed by Eric Till) with documentary content (directed by James Murray).
We would be April Fools to believe that if all Canadians knew the same history the country would be more unified. But there is no evidence to connect knowledge of history with national "health." This series follows the long struggle to realize Macdonald's National Dream through the initial surveying, the political scandals and infighting even as the colourful builders struggle to conquer the difficult geography in their construction of a railway that would help secure and define a nation. I remember the enthusiasm for Canadian Studies that swept through the education system in the 1970s, promising to transform every youngster into a walking encyclopedia of Canadiana. Check out some of the IMDb editors' favorites movies and shows to round out your Watchlist.Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.
We would be April Fools to believe that if all Canadians knew the same history the country would be more unified. Canadian society is too diverse, and in reality always has been. The same polls, with the same results, appear with regularity in the United States and I imagine in other countries as well.
The photographs taken of the event are considered to be the most famous in Canadian history. Yet another poll, taken in 2000, reported that Canadians considered the construction of the Canadian Pacific to be the second most important event in our history, after Confederation. Canada, Part 2: Stunning Revelations from DreamBot5.
It was built at enormous cost to the public treasury in the form of a generous subsidy, some of which was paid to the Conservative Party to keep it in power. This is a truly outstanding documentary production (extremely well-researched and filmed, with high-quality acting and narration). Another illusion suggests that if we did know more about our history Canada would somehow be a "better" place. Nowadays, history is about … Contact with Europeans or one of the epidemics that wiped out such a large percentage of their ancestors would surely rank a lot higher. Another cherished myth is that there is such a thing as a history of Canada. Both these assumptions are wrong. Canadians may not know much history, but neither does anyone else. The implication being a) this is a bad thing; and b) people in other countries know more. This 8-part mini-series was produced at a cost of 2 million CAD (a large sum in 1974), and the viewing audience when first aired, set a record for Canadian dramatic productions (Source Wikipedia).Looking for some great streaming picks? And it was built on the backs of immigrant labourers using land acquired for next-to-nothing from the Aboriginal people.
In the final episode of The National Dream, eastern militiamen begin the cruellest journey in Canadian military history and the national crisis is averted. National Dreams is an incisive study of the most persistent icons and stories in Canadian history, and how they inform our sense of national identity: the fundamental beliefs that we Canadians hold about o Well, yes and no. The CPR faces riots, strikes and bankruptcy before an 11th-hour government loan saves the day.
October 26th, 2014 GLOBAL DREAMERS. Whatever you call it, April Fool's Day seems like a good opportunity to think about some of the illusions Canadians have about ourselves. Was this review helpful to you? Or we describe our society as a tolerant, cultural "mosaic" while forgetting the terrible racism that was at the heart of Canadian culture for generations. One of our most cherished national myths has been the story of the transcontinental railway.
You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Vancouver cyberpunk novelist William Gibson calls it "consensual hallucination." For instance, we recall with pride the colourful history of the RCMP, especially in the wake of the recent tragic murders in Alberta. We like to think, along with Jean Chrétien, that history promotes unity. But history is as much about forgetting as it is about remembering.
One illusion we share is that we don't know enough about our own history.