Hockey, PQ: Canada's Game in Quebec's Popular Culture

by Amy Ransom

Overview

A wide-ranging study that examines everything from the blockbuster movie franchise Les Boys to the sovereigntist hip hop group Loco Locass, Hockey, PQ explores how Canada’s national sport has been used to signify a specific Québécois identity. Amy J. Ransom analyzes how Québécois writers, filmmakers, and musicians have appropriated symbols like the Montreal Forum, Maurice Richard, or the 1972 Summit Series to construct or critique images of the Québécois male.

Close analyses of hockey-themed narratives consider the soap opera Lance et compte (‘He shoots, he scores’), the music of former pro player Bob Bisonnette, folk band Mes Aïeux, rock group Les Dales Hawerchuk, and the fiction of François Barcelo. Through these examinations of the role hockey plays in contemporary francophone popular culture, Ransom shows how Quebec’s popular culture uses hockey to distinguish French-Canadians from the French and to rally them against their English-speaking counterparts. In the end, however, this study illuminates how the sport of hockey unites the two solitudes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442670020
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	06/09/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Amy J. Ransom is an associate professor of French at Central Michigan University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Hockey as Nationalist Marker in Quebec Film, But Which Nationalism?

Chapter One: From Canadiens to Québécois: Maurice Richard as National Hero

Chapter Two: "The Nordiques Have Disappeared!": Hockey, Science Fiction and Nationalist Fantasies in Quebec

Chapter Three: Plus ça change...: The Hockey-Themed Television Series Lance et compte as a Reflection of Quebec Society

Chapter Four: Real Men Play Hockey: Sport, Masculinity & National Identity in the Les Boys Films

Chapter Five: Rock and Roll, Skate and Slide: Hockey Music as an Expression of National Identity in Quebec

Conclusion: Hockey is Quebec

Notes

Works Cited

What People are Saying About This

Jamie Dopp

“The product of an impressive amount of research, Hockey, PQ offers an original and important contribution to the study of hockey in Canadian culture.”

Andrew Holman

“Hockey, PQ is clever and insightful – an impressively smart book. The writing is crisp and fresh, as is Amy J. Ransom’s perspective. Ransom’s book explains ably and critically for anglophone readers the nature of Québécois affinities for and antagonisms with ‘notre sport national.’ Covering film, music, science fiction, and myth, this book maps out a broad scope for hockey’s place in the popular consciousness.”

Benoît Melançon

“Hockey, PQ is the very first attempt to address Quebec’s relationship with hockey with such a scope and in such a perspective. Amy Ransom has a very impressive knowledge of the subject matter – who else could devote so many pages to hockey-player-turned-singer Bob Bissonette?”

Editorial Reviews

‘Scholars who are looking into the question of how hockey resonates with Quebec and Canadian culture will have to make a reference to this work that looks at a region that is often missing from other studies.’

—J. Andrew Ross, Journal of Canadian Studies vol 49:03:2015

“The product of an impressive amount of research, Hockey, PQ offers an original and important contribution to the study of hockey in Canadian culture.”—Jamie Dopp, Department of English, University of Victoria
“Hockey, PQ is the very first attempt to address Quebec’s relationship with hockey with such a scope and in such a perspective. Amy Ransom has a very impressive knowledge of the subject matter – who else could devote so many pages to hockey-player-turned-singer Bob Bissonette?”—Benoît Melançon, Department of French Literature, Université de Montréal
“Hockey, PQ is clever and insightful – an impressively smart book. The writing is crisp and fresh, as is Amy J. Ransom’s perspective. Ransom’s book explains ably and critically for anglophone readers the nature of Québécois affinities for and antagonisms with ‘notre sport national.’ Covering film, music, science fiction, and myth, this book maps out a broad scope for hockey’s place in the popular consciousness.”—Andrew Holman, Department of History, Bridgewater State University

From the Publisher

'Scholars who are looking into the question of how hockey resonates with Quebec and Canadian culture will have to make a reference to this work that looks at a region that is often missing from other studies.'

Journal of Canadian Studies vol 49:03:2015 - J. Andrew Ross