Abstract

This thesis is an exploration of collective memory with respect to Quebec nationalism. Three documentaries are used as a case study through which to examine the primary themes of collective memory in Quebec: Denys Arcand's Le Confort et l'indifference (1981), Donald Brittain's The Champions Part 3: The Final Battle (1983), and Jacques Godbout's Le Mouton noir (1992). Particular emphasis is placed upon the dynamics of forgetting in collective memory. Specifically, this thesis argues that forgetting is not the antithesis of memory, but its complement; forgetting emerges through the process of memory narrativization itself, as embodied through the documentary films. Conclusions are drawn with respect to the role of forgetting in the imagined community of the nation, and suggestions are formulated with respect to the understanding of collective amnesia in further study on collective memory.