Writings by Richard Fung TV Dinner in 2 4 Languages (1980) FUSE May 1980 v4n4, 188-191 REPORTS: Television photo caption: At MTV it's mostly studio interviews and movies; documentaries are too costly. TV Dinner in 24 Languages How 'Multiculturalism' created Multili ngual Television - separate but not e qual time. Whenever one of my housemates is station hopping on the converte r I can always pinpoint Channel 47. It's not because the language spoken isn't French or English since we usually do this with the sound off. No, I identify the station by those cinemascope productions shown without the corrective lens—yielding aliens, which resemble well-known movie stars grown unhealthily thin. Other signs include movies in shades of washed sepia and magenta, or badly lit studio interviews against backdrops of travel a gent posters. But Channel 47, Multilingual Televisio n (M.T.V.) is not just any Canadian station. Producing programs in 24 languages, it i s one of the most significant creatures of the era of Multiculturaljsm in Canada, an era whose other achievement has been to alter the meaning of the word 'ethnic' to exclude Anglo-Saxo ns. In much-publicized contrast to the 'melting-pot' philosophy of the United States, the Canadian government through 'Multicultu ralism' encourages each e thnic group to preserve its own traditions in food, clothes and, one suspects, occupations and social status. It facilitates this mainly by allowing grants for 'ethnic' folk dancing festivals and the like. When presented in the right manner this policy might appear even progressive, but so do Bantust ans when described as 'Separate Development' by white South Africans. In fact, the effect of Multiculturalism is to place each minority into neat, easily manageable cages—and you know who's running the zoo. Except for one French station, all the other channels on my thirty-channel converte r are in English, aimed at an Anglo-Saxon audience. The faces on these channels with the exception of the odd Sanford and Son or Adrienne Clarkson are all white. Many ethnic minority Canadians look toward M.T.V. for employment as hosts, producers or technicians. It is already a job ghetto. Like its programming policy squeezing twenty-four languages into one channel, M.T.V. jams many ethnic groups into i ts small staff. In the multi-million dollar world of television this is the tiniest of crumbs to Canada's minorities. But it is one that will nevertheless be used to justify keeping mainstream television white and English, in front and behind the cameras. Even the community stations have been heard to respond "Greek? I'm afraid M.T.V. is already doing programming for you." This reply reflects the fact that most p eople see minority groups as being internally homogen eous. Stressing the e thnic factor downgrades class difference. The majority of immigrants whose first language is other than French or English are workers— often in low paying jobs. Besides concerns of employme nt or unemployment their most pressing considerations include things like orientation to public services, immigration policy for sponsoring relatives and racism. Presumably, they are the most likely viewership for Multilingual television. But instead of focusing on these very real issues, 47 intoxicates its transmissions with nostalgia for homelands that exist only in tourist brochures. It doesn't work because most of us know that we came here looking for a bett er li fe. It is true that M.T.V.'s lack of funds precludes the production of costly documentaries. But constraints of money alone do not force the type of programmi ng seen on channel 47—well- dressed heads and torsos shimme ring against chroma-keyed backgrounds of foreign cities. Neither is this blandness the r esponsibilit y of the overworked and underpaid staff.