This morning I awoke....latte in hand made by my loving husband, I make my way to my office and sit myself down in front of my computer to check on my emails...and the new in the world around me.
My computer opens to Internet Explorer home page. On this page are quick news topics....one of the topics that caught my eye this morning was a news report about how The U.S. Department of State and Homeland Security had commissioned a tourism video produced by Disney entitled "Welcome: Portraits of America".
This video has been sent to consulates through out the world to promote tourism to the US. The controversy arises when you are about 4 mins into the video where they are showing some of America's greatest landmarks....guess what they do....they show the Canadian side of Niagara Falls...and to make matters worse in order to view the falls from this angle they had to be in Canada to get the shot they chose. Now I have never seen Niagara falls, but my hubby is from the east coast and has seen them many times......and he assures me that the video does indeed show the Canadian falls and was shot on the Canadian side of the border.
The video was viewed by many and here is what one American historian had to say....
......Making matters worse, a visitor to the U.S. would not even be able to get the same view of the falls in the video because the scene was shot from a vantage point in Canada, according to Paul Gromosiak, a Niagara Falls, N.Y., historian and author.
Also, he said the video leaves out the two cascades that actually are on U.S. territory, the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.
This is not the United States, this is 100 per cent Canada, shot from the Canadian side. This is an insult," Gromosiak said after reviewing the video at the request of The Associated Press.
Now when I read on into the news report I was expecting an....ooops we made a mistake.....oops an oversight....but no....no such thing....instead what we get is some guy from the state department giving some standard stupid government response....
....State Department spokesman Sean McCormack could not speak to the scenery in the short film. But he stressed that Niagara Falls "is a shared natural wonder, a gateway for both our countries and anyone looking at the video will understand how proud America is to share it with Canada."
He misses the point totally. Those shots of the falls are not on American soil...it's Canadian ....This was suppose to be an American tourism video.....not Canadian....I am glad you think we are such great neighbours...but hey...if you don't know your borders how can you protect them.....
Other than that the video is lovely, but as I said if it hadn't been for some of the major landmarks that we know to be American...i.e. The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Coney Island, Fisherman's wharf, The Rocky mountains shot from the American vantage point from Montana and Colorado......yes I know American landmarks...and of course the video ends with a shot of the infamous statue of Liberty. The faces though could be of anyone anywhere on this planet...and I wonder if that is what they wanted to portray.
As I said, it's a nice video...but I think the state department should be asking for their money back........somebody forgot to tell that rodent Mickey that he wasn't in the US anymore.....
If you are interested in checking this out.....here is the news clip which then connects you to the video....
Us annexes Canada landmark in video and just in case you can't connect to this news report you can find the video here www.travel.state.gov
My computer opens to Internet Explorer home page. On this page are quick news topics....one of the topics that caught my eye this morning was a news report about how The U.S. Department of State and Homeland Security had commissioned a tourism video produced by Disney entitled "Welcome: Portraits of America".
This video has been sent to consulates through out the world to promote tourism to the US. The controversy arises when you are about 4 mins into the video where they are showing some of America's greatest landmarks....guess what they do....they show the Canadian side of Niagara Falls...and to make matters worse in order to view the falls from this angle they had to be in Canada to get the shot they chose. Now I have never seen Niagara falls, but my hubby is from the east coast and has seen them many times......and he assures me that the video does indeed show the Canadian falls and was shot on the Canadian side of the border.
The video was viewed by many and here is what one American historian had to say....
......Making matters worse, a visitor to the U.S. would not even be able to get the same view of the falls in the video because the scene was shot from a vantage point in Canada, according to Paul Gromosiak, a Niagara Falls, N.Y., historian and author.
Also, he said the video leaves out the two cascades that actually are on U.S. territory, the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.
This is not the United States, this is 100 per cent Canada, shot from the Canadian side. This is an insult," Gromosiak said after reviewing the video at the request of The Associated Press.
Now when I read on into the news report I was expecting an....ooops we made a mistake.....oops an oversight....but no....no such thing....instead what we get is some guy from the state department giving some standard stupid government response....
....State Department spokesman Sean McCormack could not speak to the scenery in the short film. But he stressed that Niagara Falls "is a shared natural wonder, a gateway for both our countries and anyone looking at the video will understand how proud America is to share it with Canada."
He misses the point totally. Those shots of the falls are not on American soil...it's Canadian ....This was suppose to be an American tourism video.....not Canadian....I am glad you think we are such great neighbours...but hey...if you don't know your borders how can you protect them.....
Other than that the video is lovely, but as I said if it hadn't been for some of the major landmarks that we know to be American...i.e. The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Coney Island, Fisherman's wharf, The Rocky mountains shot from the American vantage point from Montana and Colorado......yes I know American landmarks...and of course the video ends with a shot of the infamous statue of Liberty. The faces though could be of anyone anywhere on this planet...and I wonder if that is what they wanted to portray.
As I said, it's a nice video...but I think the state department should be asking for their money back........somebody forgot to tell that rodent Mickey that he wasn't in the US anymore.....
If you are interested in checking this out.....here is the news clip which then connects you to the video....
Us annexes Canada landmark in video and just in case you can't connect to this news report you can find the video here www.travel.state.gov
13 comments:
Boy, it that isn't just the limit there! True enough, we do "share" the falls, in a sense, but still - there are the Canadian Falls and the American Falls -and they are there together but different and separate too. That is about the height of absurdity to promote that as "American" tourism, for sure.
Ok, loving this blog. I'll be back time and time again. So great to read from nurses who have experience. Oh, and I live on the mainland. We're not that far!
I am embarrassed as a U.S. citizen by this but that's nothing new. If the State Department spokesman would have said that they would look into it, that would have been different. Surely they could have made Disney chalk up the cost of editing and fixing it with a shot from the U.S. side. For me though the whole thing is a Disney take on the country I call my home which ends up being very fake.
I love the shot near the end of the children who wouldn't smile. That was my favorite part. I realize advertising is advertising and it's not like they are going to show people sleeping on park benches in an ad but I have trouble with the sleek Disney quality of it. I love my country as much as the next person but I think we have to be able to admit our faults and this highlights them to me. Ah the arrogance.
I'm so glad your husband's birthday surprise went well and your pumpkins in the post below look great. Very creative.
Jeni...you are so right...we do share the falls....if you look at at the Official site for Niagra falls you will see the falls that Disney used...(the Canadian) and in the background you will see the falls on the American side...they are distinctly different...I have no problems sharing...it's that they thought it was ok to portray that portion of the falls as American...that is what I take offense to...well that and when it was drawn to their attention they did nothing to correct the situation....it's such a shame....
Ah...Our beloved goverment hard at work with our taxpaying dollars...(slowly shaking head)...
I can't say that I blame you for being irritated by this situation. Not only is the USA nothing like it used to be but neither is Disney!
Thanks for visiting my Georgia blog today.
Mary Anne, that's hysterical..! I have been to Niagara Falls, and the best part of the falls are indeed in Canada. I guess they just decided to "fudge" it and use the best angle, even if it wasn't the American side. That's just dishonest.
This is totally absurd and I have watched this and I'm irritated and I just don't know what to say.
Maybe in time now that this has been publicized, it might be corrected, but I highly doubt it. But this is something that has happened before. The Rocky mountains here in BC in my neck of the woods has been displayed in the same manner and it sickens me as well. I just don't understand because really, it's still beautiful on either side. It's all on the way you portray it.
Good post and if it gets around and brings awareness to a few, then you've done your job.
Could it be that the picture wasn't captured just for the film but was downloaded from some other source as just Niagra Falls and the person editing the film didn't bother to find out where the picture was made?
Mama Bear
So, somebody's claiming something that doesn't belong to them?
That's hysterical! Any how best of luck to them.
Til then,
nursereview.org
sometimes im so embarresed by the crap my country does..
all i can say is were not all egg heads..
sorry
Mary Anne, would you really expect any Bush appointee to do anything competent? Actually you should consider yourselves lucky. Where not Bush already overextended by losing two wars and trying desperately to get into a third war to lose, he might have considered that the best way to rectify the error is to invade Canada and appropriate your magnificent view of the falls by conquest.
Well, I do not actually imagine it is likely to have effect.
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