Check out these 5 moments in pop culture that represent the diversity of Canadians
From romcoms to crime dramas, Checkup callers tell us about seeing themselves on screen — and why it matters
Many people can point to at least one character in pop culture and say, "that's me!"
With the release of the blockbuster film Crazy Rich Asians, representation in film and television is on the minds of many.
On Sunday, Cross Country Checkup opened the phone lines to ask Canadians when they first felt represented in pop culture.
These five callers told Checkup guest host, author Randy Boyagoda, what films and TV shows stood out for them and why:
Monsoon Wedding
Lichah Reza from Oakville, Ont., connected with the 2001 British film Monsoon Wedding, directed by Mira Nair. The film follows the story of an American of Indian descent who returns to India for an arranged marriage.
"The characters feel like real people, more three dimensional," said Reza. "It shows the beauty of Indian weddings, but also the darker side, like issues of child abuse, and the emotions that people have around arranged marriage."
For Reza, the film is "more real" for her than typical Bollywood films. What's more, she says she and the film's lead actress, Vasundhara Das, look "remarkably alike."
"That was eye opening. I thought, 'Whoa. Okay, I've never seen anybody like me on screen before.'"
Love, Simon
When it came out in March, Love, Simon, was lauded for being the first teen romcom backed by a major film studio to feature a gay lead character. Simon, played by Nick Robinson, is a gay teen who falls for an anonymous gay penpal from his high school.
For caller Nathan Patilla, 21, in Thunder Bay, Ont., it was the first time he saw his story told on screen.
"It's kind of similar to something I went through in high school because I never really came out in high school," he said.
Patilla was impressed by the diverse audience on opening night — young and old — who seemed accepting of Simon's story.
"At certain parts near the end they would clap, and people would be laughing, and I'm sure some people were crying at some point," he said with a chuckle.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Mary Richards, the title character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, was a single, career-focused TV producer living in a man's world and that's how she liked it. So did caller Cheryl Folkes from Toronto.
"She worked with men and got along with them, and she had lots of female friends and they weren't catty," she recalled. Folkes also appreciated Richards' approach to dating.
"That was not a picture that we saw in those days — that being single was an absolutely viable path in life for women."
Watching it as a teenager, Folkes didn't immediately identify with the feminist icon, but later realized how much the character influenced her.
"I ended up kind of living it."
Little Mosque on the Prairie
In elementary and junior high school, Yaseen Ceton had a weekly ritual with his friends: to talk about the latest episode of CBC-TV's own Little Mosque on the Prairie.
The show was about a Muslim community in a rural Saskatchewan town, and ran for six seasons.
"Everyone would gather and watch this show with their families the night before and then the next day of school, all the kids are talking about what they saw, what happened," Ceton told Checkup.
It was an important show for Ceton and his family because it was the first time he could turn on the TV and see Muslim-Canadians portrayed as part of a community, not "bad guys," or "villians," he said.
"It sort of normalizes your presence here in the world."
Better Luck Tomorrow
Andrew Chung, a Toronto-based film producer, is a big fan of Crazy Rich Asians. But the first time he truly saw himself represented on screen was in Better Luck Tomorrow.
The 2002 independent film followed a group of academically overachieving Asian-Americans who rebel by taking on criminal extra-curricular activities.
"I always felt like we were perceived as a model minority and I was kind of one of those," Chung said. "But we had a mean streak that I could identify with."
Directed by Asian-American director Justin Lin, Chung attributes Better Luck Tomorrow to opening the door to Crazy Rich Asians and increased representation of Asian communities in film.
"The biggest thing is just having this experience that other people were watching our story outside of our ethnicity," Chung said about the most recent blockbuster.
"There's something emotional about that."
Written by Champagne Choquer and Jason Vermes