AN EFFORT by the US government to persuade foreign tourists to come and enjoy the country's natural beauty has backfired slightly, after a promotional film made by Disney for the campaign annexed part of Canada.
The film, released last week by the departments of state and homeland security, highlights majestic American landscapes, from New England's colourful autumn foliage and the Grand Canyon to the Rocky Mountains and Hawaii's pounding surf.
Backed by
a soaring orchestral soundtrack, shots of those attractions are interspersed with the smiling images of people of all creeds and colours. The video, Welcome: Portraits of America, is to be played at select airports in the United States - starting at Dulles International Airport outside Washington DC, and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston - and at US embassies abroad.
About four minutes into the seven-minute production, viewers are treated to the impressive sight and sound of water roaring over Niagara Falls before the scene shifts to the Lincoln Memorial in the capital.
In showing the natural wonder, Disney's filmmakers, however, chose the Horseshoe Falls, the only one of Niagara's three waterfalls to lie almost entirely on the Canadian side of the border separating western New York state from southern Ontario province.
Making matters worse, a visitor to the US would not even be able to get the same view of the falls in the video because the scene was shot from a vantage point in Canada, according to Paul Gromosiak, a Niagara Falls, New York, historian and author. "This is not the United States, this is 100 per cent Canada, shot from the Canadian side," Mr Gromosiak said after reviewing the video. "This is an insult."
Although brief, the appearance of the Horseshoe Falls in a US tourism promotion effort is likely to vex Canadians, who long have fought to distinguish themselves from their larger and more powerful neighbour to the south.
The political boundary is not marked with a line through the Niagara River that divides the two countries and connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The distinction, however, is clear to most who have visited the falls looking for a picture postcard photo to take home.
But it seems to have escaped the notice of the producers and those at the US state department and homeland security department's customs and border protection agency who presumably vetted the video before endorsing it and posting it on their websites.
Karen Hughes, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, said in a posting to the department's blog that the production has the administration's blessing.
"This video clearly says, 'We want you to come to America; you will be most welcome'," she said.
Ms Hughes said she commissioned the work, which Disney shot and produced at no charge and donated, to overcome the pervasive post-11 September perception abroad that the US is hostile to foreigners. She said the video is to be given maximum exposure.
"We have already sent the video and associated posters to embassies and consular offices across the world, where it will greet aspiring visitors long before they arrive on our shores," Ms Hughes said.
"We're going to play it in waiting rooms and at embassy events - and we hope it will inspire many who otherwise might not have thought about travelling to America to come and see it for themselves," she wrote.
Or maybe Canada.
TROUBLED WATERS
CANADA and the United States have several serious territorial disputes.
• The Northwest Passage. The Canadian government considers it to be part of Canadian internal waters, but the US maintains it is an international strait or transit passage. The passage has recently become of the focus of greater attention as melting sea ice makes it more viable as a shipping route.
• Machias Seal Island. Located in the Gulf of Maine, about ten miles south-east of Cutler, Maine, and 12 miles south-west of Southwest Head, New Brunswick, by Grand Manan Island. It is currently controlled by Canada, but both countries covet the surrounding fishing grounds.
• Dixon Entrance. A strait between British Columbia and Alaska. About 50 miles long, it lies between the Clarence Strait in Alaska to the north, and the Hecate Strait into the Queen Charlotte Islands in BC to the south. The Dixon Entrance is the principal approach to the port of Prince Rupert, BC.
• The Beaufort Sea. Canada and the US disagree over who has sovereignty over a chunk of this northern sea between Yukon and Alaska. It's what's under the water that has the interest of both sides: oil and gas.
The full article contains 764 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
