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Gallery South Park's Canadian Hamlet
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| South Park's Canadian Hamlet |
Matt Stone and Trey Parker
From Episode 505, "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow"
Original Air Date: 07/18/2001
The kids from South Park travel to see Philip perform Hamlet (5.2) at the "Canadian Shakespeare Festival." The scene is performed at high-speed in South Park's inimitable Canadian (Shakespearean) accent. The scene brilliantly parodies American notions of what it means to be Canadian: Canada is figured both as an unexplored wilderness but also as a bastion of high Shakespearean culture (albeit with a funny accent). It also recognizes (perhaps accidentally) the fact that many Canadian actors who achieve fame in the United States have done Shakespeare or worked at Stratford, like Wayne and Shuster, or William Shatner and Christopher Plummer (please see our page on Canadian Shakespeareans in Space). The episode may also allude to Keanu Reeve's well publicized performance as Hamlet in Winnipeg in 1995.
Audio Clip: South Park's Canadian Hamlet
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