Monday, February 2, 2009

Founding for the Arts

The commercial Founding for the Arts put in scene a French-speaking, Quebecker singer trying to persuade a government committee to allow him funds to organize a music festival in France. The committee is composed of Anglophones, and the song the musician is trying to sing cause confusion among the government representatives, some words in French looking similar to vulgar words in English. The commercial is putting a single artist in front of 4 government officials, making the artist looks like he is persecuted. The room is also dark, another negative reference toward the government. A picture of Stephen Harper with an American flag is also used, playing with a feeling among the Quebec population: a politician too close to the Americans is usually negatively seen. The humorous tone is obvious, playing on the funny differences between the two languages. The commercial is clearly aimed at French-speaking Quebeckers, and the written message informs us at the end of the true message of this commercial. The goal is to criticize the government’s decision to abandon a federal program founding artistic activities. The commercial is very funny and entertaining, but it failed at delivering his message clearly. The main story being about a confrontation between French and English people, the true message is only visible at the end, and it is not discussed much. However, the commercial succeeded at depicting the government as an authoritarian one, practicing censorship, and it can be seen that the creators of the ad put many efforts in trying to do depict the government that way.

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