You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet: An Analysis of Depictions of Canadian National Identity in the Juno Awards 2014 Broadcast

Abstract

With changing dynamics of political communication merging education and information and giving rise to celebrity politics, entertainment media is now playing an integral role in creating a cultural context for individuals, especially young people, to become politically active. The Juno Awards 2014 broadcast presents an excellent opportunity for analysis of changing forms of political communication and celebrity politics in the Canadian context. This becomes especially true when recognizing the origins of the Juno Awards, with the creation of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) was designed to celebrate Canadian arts and culture on a national scale, but has evolved over the decades to become more focused on music promotion and commercial profitability than fair and equal artistic representation. For this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods were combined to measure the most prominent features of Canadian national identity: multiculturalism, gender egalitarianism, the diffident and unpatriotic citizen, and Canada as a peacekeeping nation.