Psuedo-hypocricy
Oct. 12th, 2006 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anysiaIt's ok for Angelina Jolie to ADOPT an African child, but it's not ok for her to portray someone with African heritage. Note I said with 'African heritage' not a African woman.
And why is it that if anyone has even 1/10 African heritage they are considered 'black'. WTF happened to the other 9/10s of their genetic make up?
And why is it that if anyone has even 1/10 African heritage they are considered 'black'. WTF happened to the other 9/10s of their genetic make up?
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-12 03:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-12 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-12 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-12 04:57 am (UTC)Whoops! There you go, clouding the issue with facts! :D
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Date: 2006-10-12 09:20 am (UTC)I think that if you have a mixed heritage, and you're living in a country where part of that heritage is a minority there does seem to be a tendency towards emphasising that minority heritage. I am not entirely sure why though. Maybe people just find it makes them more interesting or something?
I am white and British and English and I live in England. We've been looking into the family history lately, and while there's no indication of being mixed race, it does seem that my mother's father's family came to the UK later than we originally thought, though at the moment we don't know where from. That doesn't stop me being English though because it is only one part of my family (though everybody in the Uk originally came from somewhere else as the Islands have only been occupied for 12,000 years) and the people who lived elsewhere or were bought up by parents who were born in a different country were long dead before I, my parents or even my grandparents were born, so my upbringing has not been affected by it.
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Date: 2006-10-12 10:04 am (UTC)Quite possibly. There doesn't seem to be a set 'rule' to how little or how much of one's heritage there has to be to claim it. I'm half Dutch, but I don't call myself Dutch-Australian. On the other end of the spectrum, I went to a girl who looked Nordic (pale skin, blue eyes, blonde blonde hair) who identified as Aboriginal because her ancestry was. (If I remember correctly, they had to go back to her great grandmother to find no non-Aboriginal ancestry).
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Date: 2006-10-12 11:19 am (UTC)Being caucasian is one thing, but being British/English is cultural/ethnic. One could be of Japanese ancestry, but born in London and still be British/English.
I don't think it has to do with the culture. If one is Native american, Caucasian, with a distant AFrican ancestor, that person is called "Black". I think denying or ignoring the rest of the mix is being purblind. For one huge reason. There is no 'race', other than the human race. These distinctions were invented for certain groups to elevate themselves, to make themselves think they were superior to other groups.
Also, take a Google look at Marianne Pearl.If I had met her face to face, I would never have said she was black. Then again, I a product of multi cultures. TexMex/Native American/Caucasian.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-12 11:32 am (UTC)I entirely agree, which is why I listed all three, they are separate however all three just happen to apply to me. Being British isn't the same as being English though as any Scotsman would tell you ;) British is my nationality, English is probably my ethnicity.
I wonder where the cut off point is for being considered 'black'? I mean we are all decended from Africans if we go back far enough. I agree that it seems silly to forget about part of a person's make-up just because part of it is Black. Taking Halle Berry as an example, she's often regarededas a Black actress even though her mother is White, why has her mother's half of her genes not been considered? I guess it comes down to how she, her agent, America, the meida, the rest of the world both portray and also consume her as an actress.
I've just googled for Marianne Pearl to see what she looks like. I think you can see a little bit of African ancestry in her, but it isn't dominant. If she's happy being portrayed by Angelina Jolie then I don't really see why anybody else should have a problem with it.
Silly
Date: 2006-10-13 11:33 am (UTC)Re: Silly
Date: 2006-10-13 12:50 pm (UTC)