are these the most famous Canadians in history ? (home, top 10)

[Rickers]

No one mentioned David Thompson.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rickers

No one mentioned David Thompson.

The explorer or Lord Thomson of Fleet? The way you spelled it suggests the explorer.

[Acajack]

One Canadian who is very famous with a significant proportion of humanity would be Dashan...

Another issue I have with this thread is that there is no consideration at all given to fame *within* Canada. Can someone be considered famous if his/her renown is largely limited to Canada’s borders?

Are Beau Dommage losers just because they are almost exclusively known in Quebec? Are the members of Cold Chisel nobodies just because their fame is limited to Australia?

[grmike]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think you are greatly overestimating how pervasive American popular culture is around the world. Yes, I would agree that it is the most pervasive culture around the world, and one has to be a fool to suggest otherwise.

But that does not mean it is as pervasive everywhere as it is in English-speaking Canada, for example. To be famous in the United States is not to be automatically famous around the world.

bollywood caters mainly to east Asians. The countries that make their movies popular are not ethnically diverse. Arabic, middle eastern movie scene strictly targets a couple ethnic groups. As long as English is the language of choice in the world (In Europe, Africa, India, China, South America most people end up learning it even if it is as a second language) hollywood productions will have a much wider audience. outside of a couple countries hindi, mandarin chinese is not widely spoken.

[quote]
You chose Google hits as an indicator of people's fame. But millions of soccer fans (including many in Europe) do not have access to the Internet, which is much more widespread in the U.S. It's even truer of the markets for Bollywood movies. [\quote]

same can be said for millions of baseball fans in south america and the caribbean.

Plus, Michael Jordan played basketball, the most "globally popular" of the American sports. But most people around the world have no idea who Peyton Manning or Mark McGwire are, and just because they are famous in the U.S. hasn't magically changed that fact.

you'd be surprised how many people have heard of Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols.

Sure, your average Indian or Egyptian would know Brad Pitt and some other American celebrities. But their knowledge of "famous" American people doesn't extend as much as you might think. Heck, I live in Quebec right across from Ottawa and I betcha more than half the people on my street have absolutely no idea who David Letterman is.

I don't think late night tv is as popular in the US as it used to be.

There are all sorts of cultural alternatives to Hollywood like this that exist around the world. Another good example are the Egyptian TV and movies that are the mainstream in most of the Arabic-speaking world.

another thing i think you're forgetting is the relatively larger budget hollywood films have. Their appeal to a much wider audience (one that transcends cultural, ethnic differences (since almost everyone in the world speaks some English and is aware of American culture), larger budgets attracts actors from everywhere. people don't leave hollywood for another place. it's the same reason the nba attracts more people from euroleague than vice versa.

Even in English-speaking countries like the UK, Australia and New Zealand, classic American stuff like Saturday Night Live for example is surprisingly little known. I hardly think that Regis Philbin and Jeff Foxworthy are household names in New Zealand, let alone Brazil and Malawi.

what about the simpsons, friends, seinfeld, touched by an angel ?

[mikeyyc]

There is a difference between fame and greatness. In our current time, that distinction is getting blurred. There are great people that have no fame, and more often the total opposite.

There is no doubt that the Octomom is famous, but really, what is enviable about her?

[Acajack]

[quote=grmike;10880957]bollywood caters mainly to east Asians. The countries that make their movies popular are not ethnically diverse. Arabic, middle eastern movie scene strictly targets a couple ethnic groups. As long as English is the language of choice in the world (In Europe, Africa, India, China, South America most people end up learning it even if it is as a second language) hollywood productions will have a much wider audience. outside of a couple countries hindi, mandarin chinese is not widely spoken.

You chose Google hits as an indicator of people's fame. But millions of soccer fans (including many in Europe) do not have access to the Internet, which is much more widespread in the U.S. It's even truer of the markets for Bollywood movies. [\quote]

same can be said for millions of baseball fans in south america and the caribbean.



you'd be surprised how many people have heard of Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols.



I don't think late night tv is as popular in the US as it used to be.




another thing i think you're forgetting is the relatively larger budget hollywood films have. Their appeal to a much wider audience (one that transcends cultural, ethnic differences (since almost everyone in the world speaks some English and is aware of American culture), larger budgets attracts actors from everywhere. people don't leave hollywood for another place. it's the same reason the nba attracts more people from euroleague than vice versa.



what about the simpsons, friends, seinfeld, touched by an angel ?

I did acknowledge that American Hollywood culture is the most pervasive in the world. But that doesn’t mean that it is as totally pervasive and dominant as you seem to suggest.

Sure, American stuff is very present in the UK, OZ nd NZ, but much of it also bypasses these countries for a variety of reasons (too U.S.-centric themes, presence of homegrown equivalents, etc.)

Seinfeld and other subtle comedies are well-known only in the anglo countries because you require a good mastery of the language in order to get the jokes, and that this type of humour doesn’t translate well. Most people in Germany, France, Italy, Argentina or even Quebec would not know Seinfeld.

American stuff that succeeds in non-anglo countries tends to be action and crime-oriented, or totally farcical (first degree) comedy like Hannah Montana that translates fairly easily. Or music and dance-oriented stuff like High School Musical.

The Simpsons’ humour is quite subtle but it does well in non-anglo countries because as an animated series the soundtrack is generally completely redone to reflect local themes.

Baseball is actually only popular in handful of countries in Latin America, and the baseball-mad countries (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico) aren’t those with the biggest populations. Soccer rules in most of Latin America.

[5trillion]

Not certain why it hasn't been mentioned that Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scotland and filed the patent for the telephone in the United States. He made some great inventions, such as the photophone, while in Canada but not the telephone.

My understanding is that the inventors of the lightbulb were two brothers from Toronto but only one name is given.

[grmike]

Originally Posted by 5trillion

Not certain why it hasn't been mentioned that Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scotland and filed the patent for the telephone in the United States. He made some great inventions, such as the photophone, while in Canada but not the telephone.

My understanding is that the inventors of the lightbulb were two brothers from Toronto but only one name is given.

Bell said the phone was invented in Canada and made in the US. there are many other inventions he's credited with that were thought of, made, and patented in Canada. I think he spent most of his life in Canada including the last 30 years of his life in Cape Breton a place he considered home.
he made a big deal about the demonstration he did in Brantford, Ontario talking to someone a couple kilometers away.

[Astrogirl26]

Joeseph -Armand Bombardier - inventor of the snowmobile is Canadian.

I also find it interesting that many of the founders of the American hollywood film industry (Mary Pickford, founders of MGM, etc) were actually Canadian - Go Canada!

[selmuir]

Your number one was actually Scottish.