Migrants and the question of hybrid identity in Jalla! Jalla! and One Eye Red
The critic Elizabeth Alexander speaks of 'hybrid identity', suggesting that migrant cinema pays attention to “...the ways in which second-generation individuals retain and respect their families' native customs while also assimilating into mainstream Scandinavian society, focusing in particular on the complicated ways they construct hybrid identity.”1 In this light, Josef Fares and Daniel Wallentin explore the ideas associated with hybrid identity majorly through the characterization of second-generation immigrants in their films. The tensions associated with hybrid identity are set through the juxtaposition of two cultures; the original culture represented through …show more content…
Jalla! reflects how Lebanese culture, being highly patriarchal, affects the women in it. The position of women with hybrid identity becomes more challenging, since there is little to chance for the to contradict the patriarchal system on which they are highly dependent. The pressure mechanisms used on Yasmin is the threat being sent back to her country if she is not married to a Lebanese, which implies being trapped in the vicious circle of dependence from men. In this way, Yasmin's interaction with Swedish culture is represented through her relationship with Måns, which in a way demonstrates her liberation from her brother's control and the expectations of her family. However, in the wedding scene, the stereotype of patriarchy is fulfilled with Roro speaking for her, as well as for himself. This shows how her liberation is possibly incomplete, as she still has the task of her own emancipation ahead of her. Nevertheless, the ending is hopeful as she escapes with her loved one and is breaks free from her tyrannic …show more content…
Jalla! ends with the four characters' journey on the car, this can be seen as a journey of second-generation migrant identities through accompaniment of the Swedish partners, or, in other words, its development and transformation. The cultural mix embodied in Roro and, to lesser extent, in Yasmin can be explained by a hypothesis that suggests “...identity is no longer defined as a state of being but of becoming. Identity, then, is to be fitted with the attributes of the multifarious, the incomplete and the hybrid.”5 The characters, then, are portrayed as being in the state of transforming and “becoming”, as they are forced to constantly contradict the prejudice of his family to break free. In this light, the idea of hybridity in relation to culture and identity does not look strongly problematic. The view of identity as fluid and transforming in the context of contemporary reality of globalization is categorized by critics as “post-cultural”6, suggesting how “the notion of self-contained ethnic groups and cultures, of linear developments and societal laws becomes obsolete.”7 The idea of hybrid identity in post-cultural context is supported by both films. Most of the characters are shown to be changing in the course of the film, influenced by variety of factors. One of the examples is the relationship of Halim with his father, that changes in the course of the film; it is interesting that, in contrast to Jalla! Jalla!, One Eye Red also presents the earlier stages
The critic Elizabeth Alexander speaks of 'hybrid identity', suggesting that migrant cinema pays attention to “...the ways in which second-generation individuals retain and respect their families' native customs while also assimilating into mainstream Scandinavian society, focusing in particular on the complicated ways they construct hybrid identity.”1 In this light, Josef Fares and Daniel Wallentin explore the ideas associated with hybrid identity majorly through the characterization of second-generation immigrants in their films. The tensions associated with hybrid identity are set through the juxtaposition of two cultures; the original culture represented through …show more content…
Jalla! reflects how Lebanese culture, being highly patriarchal, affects the women in it. The position of women with hybrid identity becomes more challenging, since there is little to chance for the to contradict the patriarchal system on which they are highly dependent. The pressure mechanisms used on Yasmin is the threat being sent back to her country if she is not married to a Lebanese, which implies being trapped in the vicious circle of dependence from men. In this way, Yasmin's interaction with Swedish culture is represented through her relationship with Måns, which in a way demonstrates her liberation from her brother's control and the expectations of her family. However, in the wedding scene, the stereotype of patriarchy is fulfilled with Roro speaking for her, as well as for himself. This shows how her liberation is possibly incomplete, as she still has the task of her own emancipation ahead of her. Nevertheless, the ending is hopeful as she escapes with her loved one and is breaks free from her tyrannic …show more content…
Jalla! ends with the four characters' journey on the car, this can be seen as a journey of second-generation migrant identities through accompaniment of the Swedish partners, or, in other words, its development and transformation. The cultural mix embodied in Roro and, to lesser extent, in Yasmin can be explained by a hypothesis that suggests “...identity is no longer defined as a state of being but of becoming. Identity, then, is to be fitted with the attributes of the multifarious, the incomplete and the hybrid.”5 The characters, then, are portrayed as being in the state of transforming and “becoming”, as they are forced to constantly contradict the prejudice of his family to break free. In this light, the idea of hybridity in relation to culture and identity does not look strongly problematic. The view of identity as fluid and transforming in the context of contemporary reality of globalization is categorized by critics as “post-cultural”6, suggesting how “the notion of self-contained ethnic groups and cultures, of linear developments and societal laws becomes obsolete.”7 The idea of hybrid identity in post-cultural context is supported by both films. Most of the characters are shown to be changing in the course of the film, influenced by variety of factors. One of the examples is the relationship of Halim with his father, that changes in the course of the film; it is interesting that, in contrast to Jalla! Jalla!, One Eye Red also presents the earlier stages