The Independent Student Newspaper of the University of Toronto Mississauga since 1974
Issue 008 Volume 47 November 9 2020
themedium.ca
ELECTION WEEK
PROMISE OF LIBERTY
LITERARY FESTIVAL
November 3 was arguably the most anticipated day of the year: election night in America. With a tumultuous four years in office and an unprecedented pandemic emerging this year, it has been an interesting time for politics and governance in the United States. >> ELECTION continued on page 02
The Charlie Hebdo Prophet Muhammed cartoons and the awful terrorist attack that followed continue to haunt France. On September 25, a stabbing outside the magazine’s former headquarters injured two people.
Toronto is one of the most diverse and culturally inclusive cities in the world. The city hosts thousands of festivals each year, and for writers and readers, few are more celebrated than the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA).
>> EDITORIAL continued on page 04
>> TIFA continued on page 10
NEWS
Fiona Rawle awarded Minister’s Award of Excellence for contributions to Covid-19 response in Ontario Meghna Parhar Contributor
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ecognized for her extraordinary contributions to the Covid-19 response in Ontario, the University of Toronto Mississauga Professor Fiona Rawle received the Minister of College and Universities’ Award of Excellence on October 23, 2020. The Minister of College and Universities’ Award of Excellence was created to put the hard work of Ontario professors on centre stage and recognize its worth during the global pandemic.
>> RAWLE continued on page 03
FEATURES
ARTS
With UTM gone virtual, how have mental health resources fared?
The pitfalls and potentials of American remakes
Alexandria Ramoutar Contributor
Danica Teng Associate Arts Editor
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idterms, essays, group projects, and exams are on the horizon and the number of Covid-19 cases rises. It’s only the beginning of November, but the pangs and benefits of the pandemic are just setting in. Student struggle to adapt and keep up with online learning as they face new challenges. A graduate student shares: “Our in-person coop was cancelled, and now we are being provided with an adapted practicum, but it’s more lecture style, so our cohort feels we’ve been robbed of our experience. Also, with online Zoom chats and Facebook Messenger, there is a disconnect between how people react on text versus in-person.” As students grapple with the everchanging circumstances, Erin Kraftcheck, the Health & Counselling Center (HCC) director at UTM, is working to strengthen the UTM community through remote health services. “Mental health and wellness remain our priority and have become even more relevant in light of the pandemic,” says Kraftcheck. In March, universities worldwide closed their campuses and adopted online learning methods to protect their students. Although some courses are still in-person and thus allow for some form on human interaction, “the effect of pandemic measures, >> MENTAL HEALTH continued on page 06
ou’re watching a film and feel déjà vu nagging at your brain. You’re sure you’ve seen this story before, but you can’t quite remember when. In reality, you haven’t. You’re just watching another American remake of a foreign film. Hollywood never seems to run out of ideas, and sometimes it’s easy to forget that American remakes have been around longer than we imagine. In cinema, time continuously produces new remakes of old productions. It’s common for one story to be adapted for a second, third, or sixth time. However, there are differences between an adaptation and a remake of a foreign film. The former typically reinterprets its source in a fresh way. Meanwhile, remakes have more subtle changes and often pass by our radars as “original.” It involves taking movies from different countries and re-presenting the same stories for a Western, particularly American, audience. These remakes often keep the story’s main elements but create stylistic changes to suit viewers, notably by swapping the original actors for Hollywood A-listers. While other countries also remake American films for its audiences— >> REMAKES continued on page 09