Are you tired of hearing people ask, “Did you know that scene with Deadpool was filmed on this street?” You’re probably tired of hearing about Vancouver being the second Hollywood and articles listing places to visit where some TV series was filmed.
But today, as an international student, I’m going to show you this scenery from a different perspective. Through my eyes, through the eyes of someone who came from a place where this isn’t common and ended up in Vancouver. A place where a sea of filming locations have marked my life.
(Alexandra_Koch/Pixabay)
The first time I saw a street closed for filming was a few streets away from my house. I thought it was an accident, and a bad one at that, so I walked past. The next day I went there again and guess what, the street was closed. I thought it might just be a coincidence and didn’t pay much attention, but there was a third day when I realized it was something more, so I stopped to look and I was amazed. My eyes were shining, and I didn’t even know what was being filmed, but it really affected me.
Even today, after 2 years of living in Vancouver, I can’t get used to it. For me, even just passing by the filming for a few seconds is a magical experience. People keep walking around as if it’s nothing, and I understand. If you live with this your whole life, it becomes just another common thing happening in your day.
And now for my honest opinion: I see Vancouver not acting like a city, but rather like a film set. Does that make sense? I’ll try to show you what’s going on in my head. Maybe for you, who have lived here for years, this goes unnoticed, but for those who arrive, it’s impossible not to notice how Vancouver is several cities within just one.
As I walk around, I realize I’ve seen that street somewhere before, in some movie where the scenery was actually New York, or I go to a beach that was actually set in California in the TV series, or an alley that was actually a space taken over by a zombie apocalypse.
And I’ll tell you what’s even funnier, I feel like while I’m walking around here, it’s as if I already know all these places, but I don’t. It’s a feeling of déjà vu, I’ve seen this before, but I don’t know where, when, or why.
Anyway, for this and a million other reasons, I love Vancouver. For someone born here, it might seem like the most common thing, but for me, discovering that the street I walk to work is the same street that’s in a Hollywood movie… that changes everything.