Rebecca Hicks

The “Loyalist myth” concerns how the Loyalists are mythologized as nation-builders and heroes in Canada through the use of narratives and imagery such as those above – typically depicting the Loyalists as a homogenous group characterized by their bravery, honour, and patriotism. Though the Loyalist myth has been explored in art, literature, and public commemoration, there has not yet been a concerted effort to study Loyalist representations in new media.

This major research paper seeks to address the following questions: firstly, how have the Loyalists been historically represented in Canadian public broadcast television? Secondly, what can these representations reveal about the status of the Loyalists and the Loyalist myth through the end of the twentieth century? Finally, how are gender, race, and ethnicity conceived of in this programming, given the historical diversity of the Loyalists?

Research will be undertaken in the form of a visual media analysis of documentary and docudrama programmes televised by the CBC from 1952-2001 to survey portrayals of Loyalist narratives onscreen in relation to known documentation of Loyalist histories. Historical depictions in popular and public media are widely available to the general public, informing how individuals perceive the past and apply those perceptions in the present. In my proposed research, I hope to speak not only to relevant academic concerns, but also to the average Canadian’s experiences and interactions with history in public broadcasting.