The Girl Next Door
I read somewhere that no one was more surprised that she became the icon for the image of “the girl next door” than Doris Day. She went on to say that it was a series of circumstances and opportunities that got her cast as that sweet, fun-loving girl but not necessarily her intention.
Image - something that Hollywood knows all about. In truth however, so much of how we relate to the world or how the world relates to us, is image. Certainly countries have an image. I will not get myself into trouble by naming the images that certain countries have but let you do that yourself. Close your eyes and think of the following countries. What images pop up for you? Let’s start with our neighbour, The United States. How about Britain, Scotland, France, Japan, Columbia, Cuba? If we are honest, a cliché of each of those countries will come to mind. Like all clichés there is an element of truth, as well as a vast over-generalization.
So what of Canada’s image? In trying to think of how we Canadians are seen in the world, what came to mind for me was “the girl next door”. It’s a phrase I haven’t heard much lately, so I had to think carefully why this image came to me. The girl next door – beautiful in a wholesome way, strong human values, desirable, fun-loving, accepting, intelligent without being intellectual, popular, friendly, helpful, modest. Sound familiar?
As a young actress, I had the girl next door image but as life went on, I grew into character parts and I have to admit they were a lot more fun and interesting. I could play edgy, angry, aggressive and even insane roles. However, I could also walk away after the performance and live my relatively sane and happy life. There are some countries that are not able to walk away from those images. Quite frankly, give me slightly boring over having to live full-time in that kind of world. It’s one thing to play Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf for three hours but to live permanently inside that woman’s head would be a hideous nightmare.
For sure, if we were to drop by next door unannounced, we might find Doris pouring vodka on her cereal or dancing wildly to Led Zeppelin in front of the mirror, just as we have our unwarranted riots and corrupt politicians. Of course there is racism, corruption, greed and violence in Canadians as there is in the rest of mankind. We haven’t swallowed a “nice” pill that inoculates us from such negative human traits. But what I love about Canada is that to us this is an aberration. We still have the decency to be embarrassed by bad behaviour and want the world to know it was just a bad day and we aren’t really like that. But we are human and we have to always stay alert to being led into accepting that violence and hate are part of the norm. Generally, we do a good job of that – most of us outraged by acts stemmed in hatred and greed.
I have to say, it is my opinion that most “people” as opposed to “governments” are outraged by this. I have found in my travels to places like Iran and Cuba, who have a very different image to Canada’s, that the people one-on-one are just as amazing and concerned and human as anyone you would find in Uxbridge, despite their questionable government policies. As my friend Monica Parker, when I asked her in her opinion what makes a Canadian a Canadian, she replied, “It doesn’t matter whether they come from America, Canada or Guatemala. Idiots are idiots and good people are good people.”
But it brings me back to the idea of image. I wonder if it has something to do with expectation. As an actor I look at the difference between the classes when trying to understand a character. The privileged class expects that life is going to be fair. The underprivileged know it’s not. When there is an expectation that life should be fair, surely we fight against unfairness. This is called hope. How terrible to be in a place where there is no expectation of fairness causing a sense of hopelessness. I feel Canada’s image is one of hope. There is a knowledge that life is unfair at times, horrible things happen but that there is always an opportunity to change it if we work together.
Doris Day was a popular pin-up girl. The poster on the inside of a soldier’s locker. She symbolized all there is to live for. The girl next door. The happy ever after. Hope in a hopeless situation like war.
Canada may not be the most interesting country in the world but there aren’t many countries that people put their flags on their backpacks so that they are welcomed wherever they go. Like Doris, I don’t think Canada started out thinking, this is the image I want to present in the world, but through opportunity and circumstances and yes, extraordinary privileges, we are thought of in this world as the girl next door - wholesome, peaceful, welcoming, hopeful. Keep it up Canada, the world needs us.
I read somewhere that no one was more surprised that she became the icon for the image of “the girl next door” than Doris Day. She went on to say that it was a series of circumstances and opportunities that got her cast as that sweet, fun-loving girl but not necessarily her intention.
Image - something that Hollywood knows all about. In truth however, so much of how we relate to the world or how the world relates to us, is image. Certainly countries have an image. I will not get myself into trouble by naming the images that certain countries have but let you do that yourself. Close your eyes and think of the following countries. What images pop up for you? Let’s start with our neighbour, The United States. How about Britain, Scotland, France, Japan, Columbia, Cuba? If we are honest, a cliché of each of those countries will come to mind. Like all clichés there is an element of truth, as well as a vast over-generalization.
So what of Canada’s image? In trying to think of how we Canadians are seen in the world, what came to mind for me was “the girl next door”. It’s a phrase I haven’t heard much lately, so I had to think carefully why this image came to me. The girl next door – beautiful in a wholesome way, strong human values, desirable, fun-loving, accepting, intelligent without being intellectual, popular, friendly, helpful, modest. Sound familiar?
As a young actress, I had the girl next door image but as life went on, I grew into character parts and I have to admit they were a lot more fun and interesting. I could play edgy, angry, aggressive and even insane roles. However, I could also walk away after the performance and live my relatively sane and happy life. There are some countries that are not able to walk away from those images. Quite frankly, give me slightly boring over having to live full-time in that kind of world. It’s one thing to play Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf for three hours but to live permanently inside that woman’s head would be a hideous nightmare.
For sure, if we were to drop by next door unannounced, we might find Doris pouring vodka on her cereal or dancing wildly to Led Zeppelin in front of the mirror, just as we have our unwarranted riots and corrupt politicians. Of course there is racism, corruption, greed and violence in Canadians as there is in the rest of mankind. We haven’t swallowed a “nice” pill that inoculates us from such negative human traits. But what I love about Canada is that to us this is an aberration. We still have the decency to be embarrassed by bad behaviour and want the world to know it was just a bad day and we aren’t really like that. But we are human and we have to always stay alert to being led into accepting that violence and hate are part of the norm. Generally, we do a good job of that – most of us outraged by acts stemmed in hatred and greed.
I have to say, it is my opinion that most “people” as opposed to “governments” are outraged by this. I have found in my travels to places like Iran and Cuba, who have a very different image to Canada’s, that the people one-on-one are just as amazing and concerned and human as anyone you would find in Uxbridge, despite their questionable government policies. As my friend Monica Parker, when I asked her in her opinion what makes a Canadian a Canadian, she replied, “It doesn’t matter whether they come from America, Canada or Guatemala. Idiots are idiots and good people are good people.”
But it brings me back to the idea of image. I wonder if it has something to do with expectation. As an actor I look at the difference between the classes when trying to understand a character. The privileged class expects that life is going to be fair. The underprivileged know it’s not. When there is an expectation that life should be fair, surely we fight against unfairness. This is called hope. How terrible to be in a place where there is no expectation of fairness causing a sense of hopelessness. I feel Canada’s image is one of hope. There is a knowledge that life is unfair at times, horrible things happen but that there is always an opportunity to change it if we work together.
Doris Day was a popular pin-up girl. The poster on the inside of a soldier’s locker. She symbolized all there is to live for. The girl next door. The happy ever after. Hope in a hopeless situation like war.
Canada may not be the most interesting country in the world but there aren’t many countries that people put their flags on their backpacks so that they are welcomed wherever they go. Like Doris, I don’t think Canada started out thinking, this is the image I want to present in the world, but through opportunity and circumstances and yes, extraordinary privileges, we are thought of in this world as the girl next door - wholesome, peaceful, welcoming, hopeful. Keep it up Canada, the world needs us.