Lögberg-Heimskringla - 30.04.1999, Blaðsíða 2

2 » Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 30 April 1999
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Faux Mounties in the Islendingadagurinn parade.
A “cheap shot”
with impact
—an open letter to Mr. Gerrard
Dear Mr.Gerrard,
Thank you for your excellent article
about the documentary “The Importance
of Being Icelandic.” From the beginning,
our objective and the objective of the
CBC series, Rough Cuts, was to provoke
discussion. The fact that four months
after the film was broadcast you take the
time to write a lengthy article about it,
proves that we have achieved our goal.
First of all I would like to correct one
of your misconceptions. By the nature of
the medium, a film like this can not cover
all aspects of the Icelandic Canadian
community. Your excellent books are
probably better suited for that purpose.
You raise some valid points in your
article and I hope they will lead to further
discussion in the community. All I tried
to do in this film was to ofifer my obser-
vations as an Icelander, intrigued by
David’s, Lillian’s, and Kristin’s search
for their cultural identity, Guy Maddin’s
retrospective look on his own quests and
experiences, and David attending the
Icelandic Festival for the first time. I was
also attending the Festival for the first
time. Many of the points raised by the
documentary were made to me by indi-
viduals, on- and off-camera. You seem to
have been insulted by the number of
Shriners in my film. I was indeed sur-
prised by the number of Shriners in the
parade on the Day of the Icelanders. Then
Guy Maddirt asked the question “...what
do they have to do with being Icelandic?”
and a well-known Icelandic Canadian
writer told me oflf-camera that his family
used to have a float in the parade, but
when the Shriners were let in, they pulled
their float out of the parade. I indeed
heard similar reactions from many peo-
ple. Perhaps this aspect has not been dis-
cussed publicly before, but now it has
been brought out in the open in my film.
When I first met David Fuller in
Iceland, I was fascinated by his need to
explore his ancestral and cultural roots.
His quest became the inspiration for this
documentary. The CBC became interest-
ed in the idea because it was attempting
to shine a light on an aspect of Canadian
culture that had not been previously
exposed in this fashion. To me the filin is
more about what it means to be Canadian
than anything else. To me, Canadians
seem to stniggle with their identity, and
at best it seems to be a collage of dififer-
ent identities. The multicultural policy
seem to have created some confusion, but
in my opinion helped create a very inter-
esting society that I am enamoured of.
I intended to comment on more of
the points that you make in your article,
but after examining them in detail I found
them so conflicting that a reply will be
difificult. The one thing I found particular-
ly conflicting is your comment about
irrelevant film clips. In another paragraph
you complain that I don’t acknowledge
the work of artists that celebrate your
heritage here in Canada in their work. *
The “irrelevant film clips” are in fact
works of Icelandic-Canadian filmmakers,
Guy Maddin and Caelum Vatnsdal. As
far as I can tell they are artists that have
used their heritage as inspirations for
their work. I find filmmakers and their
work relevant, but you might disagree.
The documentary also includes Mr.
David Amason, who has written exten-
sively about the early settlement, the
Amason cousins who celebrate their her-
itage by singing Icelandic songs, and
other musical performances from the
stage at the Festival.
When it comes to the financial side,
the CBC and others that put money into
this film will have to answer for them-
selves, but they have described the cost
of this film as “minuscule.” Whether tax-
payers’ money should be used to make
films that bring out debatable issues and
opinions, is in itself debatable.
I have received a number of mes-
sages from people who thanked me for
making this film. One young man wanted
to shake my hand because the film had
helped him understand parts of his life.
On the other hand I have also received
angry and threatening phone calls from
anonymous people. Dinner invitations
have been cancelled because people did-
n’t want to have me under their roof, a
few people are not talking to me any
more, and someone threatened to inflict
physical harm on the stand-up comedian.
The good side of this is that it has given
me an idea for another documentary. You
see, when Halldor Laxness lived here in
Manitoba as a young man he wrote the
short story “Nýja ísland.” For that he was
excommunicated and ended up leaving
Canada. When Guttormur J. Guttorms-
son wrote his poem “The Winnipeg
Icelander” he caused an outrage and a
certain individual threatened to burn
down his house. When Guy Maddin
made his film Tales from Gimli Hospital
the reaction was enormous, although no
one threatened to bum down his house,
as far as I know. I 'think there is a story
there. Laxness later received the Nobel
Prize, Guttormsson the Order of the
Falcon from the King of Denmark, and
Maddin became the youngest ever recip-
ient of the Telluride Medal for Lifetime
Achievement in Cinema (previous win-
ners include Gloria Swanson, Francis
Ford Coppola, and Clint Eastwood). This
is what I find so interesting about us
Icelanders. There is rto shortage of strong
and opposing opinions. You see, Mr.
Gerrard, conflict is drama, and drama is
interesting. As a man of literature you
will understand what I am talking about.
In your article you ask if Icelandic-
Canadians are just supposed to “lighten
up” and “good naturedly” laugh along.
Mr. Gerrard, I think that is an excellent
idea and I thank you for bringing it up. I
admit that the comedian was truly below
the belt, but such is the nature of stand-up
comedians in today’s world (and yes, in
Iceland as well). They say things that
other people don’t dare say.
Yours truly,
Jon Einarsson Gustafsson
PS. One more thing, Mr.Gerrard. You
mentioned Iceland’s intelligentsia. I must
say that I have never claimed to be a part
of that group or speak for them in any
way. I don’t even know who they are.
f Lögberg )
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Letters to the editor
I would like to thak Mr. Nelson Gerrard
for taking a stand against the documen-
tar, “The Importance of being
Icelandic.”
He exposed the ignorance of the
derogatory statements which made the
Canadians of Icelandic descent look
simple and foolish.
Yours truly,
S. Stefansson
Dear Editor,
With reference to the article “The
Importance of Being Icelandic”—an
expensive “cheap shot” by Nelson
Gerrard which appeared in the April 9
issue of Lögherg-Heimskringla, I
would like to express my support for
the views presented by him.
The negativism presented in this
so-called “documentary” on CBC’s
Rough Cuts is completely contrary to
what I have experienced in my seven
trips to Iceland and my lifelong associ-
ation with people of Icelandic ancestry
in Canada.
What Nelson has brought out in
this article needed to be said and
endorsed by others who share these
views.
Yours sincerely,
Johanna Wilson