Thursday, December 16, 2010

"Between: Living in the Hyphen" Film Review


“The notion that multiculturalism is made up of pure of homogenous identities is problematic!”

The film “Between: Living in the Hyphen” is a documentary focusing on 7 Canadians who are of mixed-race: one parent is a white-European and the other is a visible minority. They gave their perspectives on their bi-racial identity, acceptance in society and how their lives have been affected.
Many of the interviewees describe a sense of not belonging to either side, being ostracized and racialised because they were not pure-blooded, they were “contaminated whiteness.” A few of the interviewees even wanted to be white at one point in their lives. A Chinese-European man who did not noticeably look Chinese went as far as not identifying himself as Chinese so that he could better fit into society. I think that this occurs much more often than we think and it’s horrible that people feel they can’t be accepted for whom they are, in a country where we are proud to say that everyone is welcomed!
A lady describes her experiences with others who are curious about her ethnicity, saying that the polite-Canadian will ask: “Where are your grand-parents from?” and if they weren’t satisfied with the response they get, they will ask in a different way. I can relate to this because I’ve often been asked what my ethnicity or nationality is, and I frequently say, “I’m from Canada, my parents and grandparents are as well.” I’m a First Nations person, both of my parents are Aboriginal, but I am frequently mistaken for Spanish. I don’t really understand why; I have dark skin, dark hair and eyes. Perhaps, I don’t fit the mold of what society thinks an Aboriginal is supposed to look like.
At the end of the documentary, one of the women describes how Canada may be shifting away from “multiculturalism” and that in the future we will opt for “hybridity.” She describes the idea of hybridity as an inclusive global community of mixed-raced people. This is a very interesting idea, however, I think we are a long way from that. Canadians are still trying to define, shape and understand multiculturalism in Canada.

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