Hello class, I’ve done a short documentary review that ties into one of the key words “hyphenated-Canadian” that was presented in Don and Elizabeth’s presentation. As well as in Yasmeen Abu-Laban’s article. I have also enclosed the link to the documentary for you guys to watch and comment.
Anne Marie Nakagawa's documentary, “Between: Living in the Hyphen” scrutinizes what it means to have a background of mixed ancestries that cannot be easily labeled. The documentary focuses on seven Canadian individuals, living in Western Canada, who have one parent from a European background and one from a visible minority. The purpose of the film is to show that even though their situations and ethnicities differ, all seven individuals have been hurt by others' mistaken beliefs about their identities.
For example, one of the interviewees’ named Wah recounts how his Chinese surname landed him on the American Consulate's “Asian quota” list for graduate school work visas until he explained that he was only twenty-five percent Chinese in the early 1960’s. Similarly, another interviewee named Mayr, who is of Caribbean and German descent retells how she felt as though she had no home country and wished for a place where she looked like everyone else when she was 20 years old. The struggles that these interviewees’ endured demonstrate that it is hard to be a multi-ethnic individual in a world that wants each person to fit into a single category.
For example, one of the interviewees’ named Wah recounts how his Chinese surname landed him on the American Consulate's “Asian quota” list for graduate school work visas until he explained that he was only twenty-five percent Chinese in the early 1960’s. Similarly, another interviewee named Mayr, who is of Caribbean and German descent retells how she felt as though she had no home country and wished for a place where she looked like everyone else when she was 20 years old. The struggles that these interviewees’ endured demonstrate that it is hard to be a multi-ethnic individual in a world that wants each person to fit into a single category.
One minor criticism is that the interviewees' names only appear once at the beginning; as a result I had to keep going back to my notes to see who was who.
Overall, Between: Living in the Hyphen is, itself, an excellent documentary that offers a stimulating glimpse of what the future holds: a departure from hyphenated names towards a celebration of variability and diversity.
Overall, Between: Living in the Hyphen is, itself, an excellent documentary that offers a stimulating glimpse of what the future holds: a departure from hyphenated names towards a celebration of variability and diversity.
Nakagawa, A.M. (Director). (2005). Between: Living in the Hyphen [Motion Picture].e enclosed a link to the documentary below:
YOUR THOUGHTS?
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