"Nous Irons (... Nous Encore) a Old Orchard C't'ete?": Popular Culture, The Media, And Quebecois Vacationing on the New England Coast (Critical Essay‪)‬

The writings of Robert G. LeBlanc belong to a growing body of academic literature which examines the filiation between French-speaking people from Atlantic Canada and Quebec and those of French heritage living in New England. The perpetuation of this "connection," as Louder and Beach put it back in 1988, has continued in Quebecois popular culture, whether it be in fiction literature, songs, cinema, and also in the spoken and printed media. In a recent article published in Quebec Studies, Cuccioletta and Desbiens (2000, 11) suggested that research seeking to better understand the dimension of Americanite in Quebec identity requires more exploration of the field of popular culture. This paper therefore does not so much try to account for the several academic "dissections" of the relationship between "Le Quebec d'en haut" and "Le Quebec d'en bas." This has been done at different times and in different ways by several competent scholars, including Robert G. Leblanc. Rather, it explores different areas of popular culture and their contributions to creating and modifying the image of places where Quebecois typically vacation in New England. While doing this I will be focusing on one particular aspect which has received substantial attention, summer vacationing in various Atlantic Coast resort towns and destinations. No one would doubt that the New England states, because of the geographical proximity and special historical ties, hold a special place in the imaginaire collectif of French-speaking Quebecois. These broad factors are of course strenghtened by cross-border family ties, and also by the significant economic exchanges that bring Canadians and Americans back and forth across the border daily. But our main concern here lies somewhere else, more in the area of leisure. When summer is around the corner, or on a long weekend, it is not family or the economy that first comes to peoples' minds. For many years, and for a very large number of people still, the names Maine, Massachusetts, and to a lesser extent New Hampshire and Rhode Island mean packing up the car and heading for the beach! These vacationers all have their own set of "habits" and favorite spots; frequently they have a relative or a colleague who owns or rents a place close to the ocean. For many Quebecois part of their life history is somehow tied to the American East Coast--Old Orchard Beach, Maine being the location that many would relate to spontaneously. Early in my life I became intrigued by the New England coast when I learned that one of my Montreal uncles had a trailer parked on Cape Cod to which he escaped every summer with his family.