Christiane Charette
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[edit] The show
Christiane Charette is both the name of the host and the title of the show, aired on the french channel of CBC Radio One radio station. It is a variety show, touching a broad list of topics, from economy and politics to music and society.
The furries that were interviewed were Firebreath, Beekin and Ailé.
[edit] Reception
The article was very well received by the local group, being deemed fair and objective.
[edit] Translation and Transcription
Furries : Animal, I chose you
They are three, they don’t want to reveal their real names but they are not hiding that they are addicted to animal costumes. They are part of a community called “Furries” that allows adults to meet, dressed as animals. They explain their passion. For our three guests, the Furry community is another social network. Socialising is the centerpiece of their activities. Beekin is a crow that sometimes is a dinosaur. Marc personifies a golden retriever while Dandy is a Chinese crested dog.
Christiane: Alright, there we go. So everyone is settled in; our guests are called: Beekin. Hello Beekin.
Beekin: Hello.
Christiane: There is Marc, but it couldn’t be that easy; Marc is also known as Firebreath, so we’ll go with... What would you like?
Firebreath: Marc’s okay.
Christiane So Marc will do. And we also have Ailé, or Dandy. Hello Ailé or Dandy.
Ailé: You can call me: Ailé.
Christiane: I can call you Ailé. So we’ll go for Ailé. Here, we’ll go with Marc and here, with Beekin as it stays Beekin to make our life easy. So, before you explain the Furry phenomenon, as all three of you are what we call Furries, I see you didn’t come here dressed up as animals, but have we been on television instead...
Beekin: Neither.
Christiane: You wouldn’t wear your costume?
[Bunch of folks trying to take the floor]
Ailé: The costumes aren’t really part of the furry’s everyday life. It’s mostly used for meetings between furs as well as special events. Otherwise, it’s not part of the everyday life, so a furry isn’t necessarily recognizable only by his costume.
Christiane: So we don’t really have much chance of seeing them; we can’t really see them. Who is it that has a beautiful, own a beautiful crow costume? Who is it of you three?
Beekin: That’d be me.
Christiane: That’s you, that’s magnificent! So there’s not much chance to see you walk in the street with your beautiful crow costume?
Beekin: Not really, unless we are having a special event or on Halloween, obviously I’ll be wearing it, But otherwise....
Christiane: But in the newsbite, we can see, there is Charles-Alexandre Théorêt, our researcher(?), who’s right here, always seeking new intriguing things who brought forward the phenomenon to us; in the newscast that we saw on TV5; can people see that newscast?
Charles-Alexandre: Yes, absolutely. We have a youtube link that will be available on the internet website. It’s a documentary titled Hors-Série that is being aired on TV5, hosted by Stéphane Crête, they had done a newscast. For me, it’s a very interesting subject, the fan universe (fandom), there are many; some are very interested in the Harry Potter universe, there’s the Star Trek, Star Wars universes; there are many groups of fans. This is a group that was unknown to me whom I discovered in the Montréal Campus news article, the Université du Québec à Montréal student newspaper; and they are people who are interested in anthropomorphic animals. They tend to be attracted to this universe, maybe our guests will be able to confirm it, by an animation movie interest, as well as mythological animals, dragons for instance, and all this. So, this is what gave me the idea to have, to invite our guests today.
Christiane: And in the...
Charles-Alexandre: And in the documentary, yes, that the show Hors-Série on TV5 did, there’s a moment where we see, actually Beekin, as well as other Montréal furries...
Christiane: Oh yes yes, in beautiful costumes in fact, and so we’ll add the link on our internet website –url-, and now we see you in your, Beekin, in your crow costume...
Beekin: Yup.
Christiane: ... that we have to admit, is magnificent, ravens are beautiful.
Beekin: Thank you.
Christiane: Let’s go with you; why do you have an affinity, because we have to say it’s not just the crow, I think, but why do you have an affinity with a crow?
Beekin: Errrrr... Well, the crow goes way back. When I was a kid, there were a lot of ravens where I lived and errr, like I said in the famous TV5 documentary, I always felt that there was one who was looking over me from up there, that was always watching my back. Always was guarding my back. So it always touched me a bit. That’s why I went towards that character.
Christiane: So the crow from your childhood, you felt it like a threat or like...
Beekin: Like a protector.
Christiane: Like a protector.
Beekin: Yup.
Christiane: You had the feeling he was there for you?
Beekin: Yup.
Christiane: Yup. And then... And then, you... grew up with that idea, of the importance of a crow for you?
Beekin: Yup. Because they are birds that are already badly seen by society in general to begin with, with all the legends we have from the 17th and 18th century. Birds that bring bad luck, black birds, everything that’s black brings bad luck, it’s not really true. ... ... Oh, this make a beautiful dead air time on the air, I love it.
[everyone laughs]
Christiane: Alright, so now I’ll go towards Firebreath, Marc, you what animal... you, you don’t already have your costume?
Firebreath: I actually already have my costume.
Christiane: So ,it’s you who don’t already have your costume?
Ailé: Exactly.
Christiane: So what costume do you have?
Firebreath: Me, I have a Golden Retriever. Errrr...
Christiane: Which is a very nice animal. They are loved, the golden retrievers.
Firebreath: Exactly, me, personally, I always had an affinity with dogs in general, when I started up in the Furry phenomenon about 11 years ago, I was a white wolf. An arctic wolf. But with time, you get to know yourself better, you get to discover yourself, and I have... And I didn’t have the impression that it was me, that it represented myself properly. And then I thought... and I made a personal quest, obviously, you look around and ponder what you could be, and for me, the Golden Retriever stood out, seeing it’s an animal that I already love a lot to begin with.
Christiane: Yes, and in what fashion weren’t you a white wolf anymore and in what way were you feeling like a golden retriever?
Firebreath: It’s really more on the level of... well... how could I explain this, the wolf is seen as an animal that is... that always live with his family, but it’s always... it’s always the same “pack”, it’s always the same, it doesn’t change. But personally, I’m someone who does enjoy meeting new people, someone who’s playful, errr... who likes making new friends. Which isn’t quite the case with the wolf on that level.
Christiane: Is it because your personality had changed?
Firebreath: Yes and no. It’s something that I still always have been, it’s... it’s always been a part of who I am, but at the beginning, I had more of an interest with wolves and with time I started to realize that it didn’t represent who I am the way I wanted it to be.
Christiane: So it’s a self-discovery tool?
Firebreath: It’s a self-discovery tool, at the same time it’s a tool to present yourself to other furries, it’s also a... a tool to have fun if you want. You can have fun, you enjoy yourself with this. Actually, it’s different for every individual. Every individual has their own vision, their own characters, their own desires towards who they are, for other furries.
Christiane: And deep within themselves, what animal... what character they can really identify with because when you think about it, it’s a rather deep self-discovery process.
Firebreath: It... really depends on the individual. For some, it’s “Oh, I feel like being this today.” And they change every day or every two days. For others, it’s different; myself, personally, I cannot be anything but a golden retriever.
Christiane: And you, Beekin, are you loyal to your incarnation of the crow or...?
Beekin: Errr... In fact, it’s... it’s a bit complicated to explain. But I have, if you want, I have three characters.
Christiane: The dragon.
Beekin: There’s the dragon, yes, that represents heavily who I am internally, that represents my own personality. I have the crow that is more an attitude I’ll be having while facing life. It’s also mostly... err... How can I say. It’s an attitude I have in general. And I’ll finish with the microraptor...
Christiane: The what?
Beekin: The microraptor.
Christiane: And what is that?
Beekin: The microraptor is the link between raptors and the archeopteryx, the archeopteryx that leads to today’s birds. It’s within the chain of evolution of...
Christiane: So it’s known? If I was going...
Beekin: If you go on internet on google, you’ll find some stuff...
Charles-Alexandre: It’s a dinosaur?
Beekin: Yeah yeah, it’s a dinosaur.
[People talking at the same time]
Christiane: It’s a dinosaur, I’m sorry.
Beekin: It dates about 65 million years, it’s...
Christiane: Yeah...
[Laughter]
Beekin: It’s still very recent.
[More laughter]
Christiane: And those guys, we don’t really know their psychology, how they acted, for those guys?
Beekin: No, for those we don’t know how they behaved, so it’s simple and since it’s sometimes complicated to explain certain things, certain concepts, certain... certain perceptions to some people, and... and I thought the creature was cute, so I told myself... why not.
Christiane: So it’s more superficial than..
Beekin: It’s more superficial, it’s my hyperactive side, when I have to jump everywhere a bit...
Christiane: I didn’t ask you the question yet, Ailé, but you, what are you?
Ailé: Me? I’m a... My furry side happens to be Dandy, who happens to be a Chinese crested dog.
Christiane: A Chinese crested dog... I don’t have a photo... we don’t see those often, a Chinese crested dog?
Ailé: No, indeed. In Canada, as it is a “nude” dog, that doesn’t have fur at all on his body excepted on his head, on the tip of the paws and tail, it’s a dog that’s really easily affected by the cold, so...
Christiane: And you chose it? You could have chosen any animal, and you chose that one?
Ailé: Yes.
Christiane: You’re not making life easy for yourself!
[Laughter]
Ailé: Not really, no... Anyway, personally, I’m a canine psychologist amongst other things, and this dog, his demeanor, it’s way to be, basically represent what I’d like to be. In other words, really active, lots of energy, always playful, nearly impossible to make him become aggressive, so that’s something I identify with. It’s nearly impossible to make me aggressive, unless it’s one of a few extreme scenarios.
Christiane: So it’s an inspiration, it’s a role model for you, this Chinese crested dog?
Ailé: Yeah, it’s kind of a role model. It represents part of what I would like to be, however it doesn’t identify me as I am right now.
Christiane: How are you, right now?
Ailé: I’m a very calm person, very gentle, someone that doesn’t... doesn’t really have a lot of energy, so I don’t really look like this kind of dog.
Christiane: Is it one of your friends who’s in the backstage right now?
some folks: Oh yeah, it is!
[Laughter]
Christiane: So do we invite him to join us or...?
[Lots of people talking at the same time, basically saying that he doesn’t want to come in]
Christiane: Can we... could we ask your friend, could someone describe your friends who’s on the other side of the window? He’s got a wonderful costume!
Beekin: Bryagh is a marvelous red dragon.
Ailé: Indeed, you can say that again.
[Bunch of people talking]
Christiane: Yes, he doesn’t seem to be talking?
[bunch of folks talking, some mentioning maybe ask to take a picture]
Charles-Alexandre: Maybe ask Christian to take a picture...
Christiane: Yes, I’d like Christian Côté, our webmaster, to take a picture, if it’s okay, and we could put it on our website...
[bunch of people talking at the same time]
[laughter]
Christiane: He accepts that we take pictures of him, so please be patient; I’m saying this to the people who are listening to us, we will be putting this on our website in a few minutes, you’ll see a little bit what it is. Now, I’m thinking, I’m telling myself, thinking of the people who are listening to us right now, and who probably can’t really really follow this thing, I dunno; do you feel understood by people? Do you advertise that you are furries? Do you feel there is a misunderstanding between the perception people in general have and your activities?
Beekin: Well.. it’s...
Ailé: Personally, I choose to whom I talk about this topic. Mostly because it’s something that’s not really conventional; there’s a lot of people who aren’t open to things that aren’t within the zone that they themselves defined, so whatever’s outside this zone of thinking about what is “normal”, well they don’t understand it. A lot of people have heard about the furry community, or furries in general, that have a very misguided conception of what it is, as well as...
Christiane: So there are preconceived ideas? People pre-judge you?
Beekin: There are a lot of preconceived ideas, yes.
Christiane: What are those ideas?
Beekin: Well... you’ve got a list as long as my arm. But it’s mostly linked to... well, recently, there was the CSI episode.
Christiane: What was in the CSI episode? It did bother you, that episode...
Beekin: It really bothered us because what can be seen in this episode is sadly... well... everything’s false. Nearly.
Christiane: But what do we see?
Beekin: Well... To describe a bit the setting, they manage to get into a furry convention, the first thing they see are people in costume. But everyone’s in a costume. In mascot costumes. The costumes we have are much more expensive, much more evolved and mostly, much better looking than a standard mascot costume.
[laughter]
Christiane: So Youppi isn’t a furry, that’s what you mean?
folks: no, no, no.
[laughter]
Beekin: No, Youppi is a mascot, there’s a big difference between the two.
Ailé: Us, what we have are in fact Japanese costumes. The difference between a mascot and a Japanese costume is the refinement of the costume. The costume is much more fragile, much more refined, it won’t be a costume that will make you bigger, and the head is literally stuck to our own heads, so unlike the normal mascot which the head is empty for the purpose of being sure you can’t be recognized underneath. It’s a big difference.
Christiane: Aesthetically, it’s a huge difference.
Ailé: And the comfort as well.
Christiane: And now, there’s a class of kids that are visiting Radio-Canada and they’re seeing your friend outside...
[Laughter]
Christiane: It makes their day! And also, in CSI, I believe there was a bit of a sexual scandal or something along those lines? And this really annoyed you?
Beekin: Yes, indeed it did. I don’t know why, but people get hooked on that...
Christiane: They think you’re sexual deviants?
Beekin: Yes, which is... really not the case since... I don’t understand, everyone has their own sexual habits and we’re not going in your own room to see what you do behind closed doors. So, I mean... There had been a “room party” in that episode. But in a real convention, there’s maybe one on 300 rooms? So, one on 300, I think...
Firebreath: But also, the issue that cropped out with this is that they brought a furry for... erm... What’s the word again? The guy who gives pointers?
Beekin: A witness?
Firebreath: No, not in that way. Pointers as to how it works.
Beekin: A consultant?
Firebreath: A consultant, that’s it! And the person who was the consultant has given them information, telling them “well this doesn’t work, this isn’t right, neither is this“ and the company who recorded the TV show said “Oh, no problem, thank you very much, we’ll keep your information nearby” and threw everything he did in the garbage, because it wouldn’t sell.
Beekin: Exactly.
Firebreath: Therefore, the problem that our group, the fandom as we call it, had, was the first time medias talked about it openly to the public, it was what would sell, not the reality. So they might have seen one to five percent of the population of the whole fandom, and this to represent 100% of the group, which isn’t right at all.
Beekin: You got it.
Firebreath: Look everywhere in the world, it doesn’t work like that.
Beekin: Find what “flashes”, seek out the minority, the little thing that stands out...
Christiane: But it’s...
Beekin: ... and we’ll keep hammering that.
Firebreath: That’s it.
Christiane: But it does... it’s going to astonish for sure. It’s astonishing that you have adults wearing animal costumes, and now I’m not talking about the sexual scandal, we’ll table this for now; right now we’re discovering furries, while at the same time we take care of fixing scandals that aren’t our problem. We just have to understand, big boys like yourselves, and... are there women in your group?
Beekin & Firebreath: Yes.
Beekin: They’re rare but they’re there.
Firebreath: Also, last year, and every year, there’s one furry who takes it upon himself to say “Well, I’ll do a census.” And last year, there were over 3500 people who answered, and there was about a 20% ratio of women. And the year preceding, it was around 10-15%, I don’t quite remember by heart.
Christiane: So there’s more and more women that are getting into this?
Beekin: Yes.
Firebreath: Yes, and it’s rather interesting in that fashion as they are mostly artists, in fact. More and more, the girls, the women who are getting involved in the fandom are more and more the artists.
Christiane: So, can I ask you, you said you are a dog psychologist.
Ailé: Yes, that’s right, though amongst other things...
Christiane: Amongst other things.
[laughter]
Christiane: Can you tell us what you do for a living or it doesn’t really seem pertinent to...
Beekin: Well... Personally, I’m in the business of renting cameras for Radio-Canada and TVA.
[Laughter]
Firebreath: Me, I work for a telecommunications company, I’m in an analyst position.
Christiane: So, if people are interested in this, boy or girl, and they would like to know more, you most certainly have... there has to be links that we could put on the internet? We can find things, I’d presume?
Beekin: Yes, easily.
Christiane: Can someone join you; and I’d also like to invite people to watch the TV5 documentary where we can actually see you, -url-, but could we also give a reference tool for people who’d like to join you or, at least, know more about you and understand you better?
Firebreath: Well, in the Montréal region, there is a furry group that is called MonFur, and the link is available on –url-...
Beekin: There’s also Francofurs that is Québec-wide, for those who aren’t in the Montréal region...
Firebreath: That’s right.
Beekin: Or those who... would...
Firebreath: It’s actually open to everyone in Québec, really.
Christiane: Do you want new friends?
Firebreath: Of course, always!!
Beekin: Yeah!
Christiane: That’s good! That’s real good!
Beekin: Christiane, you could be...
Christiane: I could be... yeah, what would YOU be, Charles-Alexandre, if you were a furry?
Charles-Alexandre: I think I would be a lion. And you? A raccoon?
Christiane: Me?
[Laughter]
Christiane: Yeah, that’s what I said to René-Aumier Roy this morning, so I’d be a raccoon if I were a furry. Well, thank you very much to all three of you.
Beekin: Well, no problem!
Christiane: And there’s Charles-Alexandre as well...
Charles-Alexandre: And the episode of Hors-Série on the fan universe will be aired again on Thursday February 25th at 10:30pm for those who would like to see it.
Christiane: So that way we’ll be able to see you in action. So, thanks a lot to Beekin, thanks a lot to Marc or Firebreath and thank you very much to Ailé for being with us today. And I also invite people to make their own search and to our silent friends on the backstage with his costume. Thank you very much to all three of you.
Beekin, Firebreath & Ailé: And thank you as well.
Christiane: And it was an interview prepared by Charles-Alexandre Théorêt. And now, we’re going into Peter Gabriel’s universe who’s really expected CD is coming out today.