Northern (genre)

The North-West Mounted Police, and later the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, were often the heroes of Northern fiction

The Yukon was a common setting for Northern fiction.

The Northern or Northwestern is an American and Canadian genre in literature and film made popular by the writings of Rex Beach and Zane Grey, Jack London and Robert W. Service, and James Oliver Curwood. It is similar to the Western genre but the action occurs in the Canadian North and typically features Mounties instead of, for example, cowboys or sheriffs. The genre was extremely popular in the inter-war years of the 20th century.

In addition to being set in Canada the stories often contrast the American Old West with the Canadian one in several ways. In films such as Pony Soldier and Saskatchewan the North-West Mounted Police display reason, compassion and a sense of fairplay in their dealings with native peoples as opposed to hotheaded American visitors (often criminals), lawmen or the U.S. Army who seem to prefer extermination. But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police made the settlers, the First Nations and Métis obey the laws in harmony, peace, and good will.

The Western idea of lawlessness set in American towns was not a part of the Canadian Northern, though individual lawbreakers or uprisings by Canadians (Quebec (1951 film)), First Nations tribes or Métis featured in some depictions.

The genre is parodied in the 1939 film The Frozen Limits.

Examples of Northerns

Folklore of Canada (Canadian oral stories)

• Louis Riel the Robin Hood of the Canadian Métis and French Canadians.
• Big Joe Mufferaw the woodsman Paul Bunyan of Canada.
• Chasse-galerie the enchanted canoe that flie over the water of the river like a bird. Rowing by some men of fur traders, woodsmen, and lumberjacks.
• Johnny Chinook was a Canadian cowboy and rancher of the Canadian West's Rocky Mountain countryside of Alberta, Canada.
• Ti-Jean, a giant 10 year old French-Canadian lumberjack boy of Canada.

Poetry

• The Spell of the Yukon by Robert W. Service, including "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee"

Pulp Magazines

• North West Stories (Originally published in 1925)
• North-West Romances
• Complete Northwest Magazine
  • See Also: Scarlet Riders, a collection of pulp stories edited by Don Hutchison

Comics

• King of the Royal Mounted

Books

• Call of the Wild
• White Fang
• Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (10 books, 17 short stories)
• Susannah of the Mounties
• Scarlet Riders, a collection of stories previously printed in Pulp magazines
• Kazan (novel)
• Baree, Son of Kazan

Photographies

• Northern, a collection of photographies by Anthony Jourdain

Songs

• "Big Joe Mufferaw", song sung by Stompin' Tom Connors

Radio

• Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (presented by the author Laurie York Erskine)
• Challenge of the Yukon (1939–1955) featuring Sergeant Preston

Serials

• The Mystery Trooper (1931)
• Clancy of the Mounted (1933)
• The Mysterious Pilot (1938)
• King of the Royal Mounted (1940)
• Perils of the Royal Mounted (1942)
• King of the Mounties (1942)

• The Royal Mounted Rides Again (1945)
• Dangers of the Canadian Mounted (1948)
• Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders (1953)
• Gunfighters of the Northwest (1954)
• Perils of the Wilderness (1956)

Television

• Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
• Renfrew of the Royal Mounted
• Dudley Do-Right, a parody of melodrama and silent films using the genre of Northern
• R.C.M.P.
• Klondike Kat, a cartoon parody of cat and mouse using the genre of Northern

• North of 60
• Due South
• Northern Exposure
• The Legend of White Fang
• The Raccoons^{[citation needed]}

Movies

• The Riders of the Plains (1910)
• Flower of the North (1921)
• The Gold Rush (1925)
• The Flame of the Yukon (1926)
• The Lodge in the Wilderness (1926)
• Tiger Rose (1929)
• O'Malley Rides Alone (1930)
• Men of the North (1930)
• The River's End (1931)
• Riders of the North (1931)
• Mounted Fury (1931)
• Mason of the Mounted (1932)
• Honor of the Mounted (1932)
• Mckenna of the Mounted (1932)
• The Trail Beyond (1934)
• The Fighting Trooper (1934)
• Courage of the North (1934)
• Undercover Men (1934)
• Silent Code (1935)
• Northern Frontier (1935)
• Timber Terrors (1935)
• Wilderness Mail (1935)
• Fighting Shadows (1935)
• The Red Blood of Courage (1935)
• Border Brigands (1935)
• Code of the Mounted (1935)
• Trails of the Wild (1935)
• His Fighting Blood (1935)
• Skull and Crown (1936)
• Rose Marie (1936)
• Caryl of the Mountains (1936)
• O'Malley of the Mounted (1936)
• The Country Beyond (1936)
• Phantom Patrol (1936)
• Secret Patrol (1936)
• King of the Royal Mounted (1936)
• Wildcat Trooper (1936)
• Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (1937)
• Death Goes North (1938)
• On the Great White Trail (1938)
• Heart of the North (1938)
• Crashing Thru (1939)
• North of the Yukon (1939)
• Blue Montana Skies (1939)
• Susannah of the Mounties (1939)
• Outpost of the Mounties (1939)
• Yukon Flight (1939)
• Man From Montreal (1939)
• Fighting Mad (1939)
• Water for Canitoga (1939)
• The Frozen Limits (1939)
• Murder on the Yukon (1940)
• Danger Ahead (1940)
• Sky Bandits (1940)
• River's End (1940)

• North West Mounted Police (1940)
• The Royal Mounted Patrol (1941)
• North of the Rockies (1942)
• Northwest Rangers (1942)
• Riders of the Northwest Mounted (1943)
• Law of the Northwest (1943)
• Northern Pursuit (1943)
• Northwest Trail (1945)
• Neath Canadian Skies (1946)
• North of the Border (1946)
• Where the North Begins (1947)
• Northwest Stampede (1948)
• Trail of the Mounties (1949)
• Trail of the Yukon (1949)
• Wolf Hunters (1949)
• Mrs Mike (1949)
• Snow Dog (1950)
• North of the Great Divide (1950)
• Call of the Klondike (1950)
• Gene Autry and the Mounties (1951)
• Quebec
• Yukon Manhunt (1951)
• Northwest Territory (1951)
• The Wild North (1952)
• Border Saddlemates (1952)
• Yukon Gold (1952)
• Pony Soldier (1952)
• Blue Canadian Rockies (1952)
• Fangs of the Arctic (1953)
• Fort Vengeance (1953)
• Back to God's Country
• Northern Patrol (1953)
• Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders (1953)
• Yukon Vengeance (1954)
• Rose Marie (1954)
• Saskatchewan (1954)
• The Far Country (1955)
• Campbell's Kingdom (1957)
• North to Alaska (1960)
• The Canadians (1961)
• The Island at the Top of the World (1974)
• Alien Thunder (1974)
• Riel (1979)
• Death Hunt (1981)
• White Fang (1991)
• White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf (1994)
• Iron Will (1994)
• Balto (1995)
• Mystery, Alaska (1999)
• Dudley Do-Right (1999)
• Balto 2: Wolf Quest (2000)
• Snow Dogs (2002)
• Balto 3: Wings of Change (2004)
• The Cruelest Miles (2012)-future filming

References

• "The Scarlet Riders: Action-Packed Mountie Stories from the Fabulous Pulps" edited by Don Hutchison. A collection of Northern stories from the Pulp magazines. (ISBN 0-88962-647-2)

External links

• "Looking for Dudley Do-Right" at Pulp and Dagger Fiction
• Northern Romances Editorial at Pulp and Dagger Fiction
• "Romancing the Redcoat: A Canadian Hero Lost in Hollywood" at Canuxploitation
• The RCMP in Popular Culture
• The Mountie Films at B-Westerns
• North-West Mounted Police Canadian Mounties in Literature
• Hollywood's View of Canada (list of films)
• The Force in the North – Myths at Virtual Museum Canada