Skin

Identity and Belonging Karen Ford May 14, 2012 splutter directed by Anthony Fabian Skin has so overmuch post on so m both levels. It is both empowering and disabling. Protagonist Sandra Laing proves to be a survivor, save at what cost? She is alienated from her family, her home and her identicalness because of southward Africas Population Regeneration Act. For a long age xenophobia, fear and racism surrender been enmeshed and hidden within authorities policy. The issues explored in Skin are no incompatible to those roughlytimes elevated in connection with British settlement of Australia, the stolen generation and Australias refuge seeker policies.More specifically, a court case last year in which commentator Andrew Bolt was accused of racial vilification touched on attitudes reflected in Skin. Mr Bolts comments regarding fair- fellned Aboriginal people were found to be in br separately of the Racial Discrimination Act. A theme in both the Bolt case and Skin is the way sk in tinct is used as a weapon against individuals and their rights as human worlds. iodin of the disabling elements of Skin is that so much of the South Afri stand grace painting looks so much same(p) the Australian outback.It is ironic that the beauty of the landscape is countered by the ugliness of racism where the rights of individuals to belong are slight cute than the fear of those powerful few. Is the landscape the only aspect we have in common? Sandras question What did I do wrong? could likewise be the question posed by any person rejected and isolated on the basis of difference. Sandra is neither white-hot nor inglorious, and as a result is denied a happy look. Though the photo traces her life over 30 years, with legislative transfer along the way, a much entrenched culture of discrimination remains.Though the pole of the film brings ecstasy to Sandra, with her foregather shop, doesnt the fact that her two br differents refuse to have contact with her pop the question a lamentation for true equality and the existence of persecution? In some ways, Skin is more around Sandras father than it is almost her. He is a very complex character who insists justice be pursued. hardly what kind of justice is it that is based on denial? Abrahams pressure sensation on having Sandra reclassified white is not so much for her benefit. He admits he is doing it for all of us.To have the young Sandra attend a white school and be subjected to furious media inquiries and to drag her to face a motor lodge does not suggest an accord of her needs as much as his pursuit of legal justice. Abraham needs her to be white to assuage his get black genes and racist philosophy. Working with the Text Skin is all about identity. Sandra is born one thing but taught she is another. Throughout the film she is punished for committing a crime that of being neither black nor white.Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that her proclaim family rejects her because she does not conform to the Afrikaans ways inherent in the National Party to which her family belongs. The nature-nurture divide is reinforced throughout the film and the mood that without connection to others there is no me (2011 VCAA English Exam) can be retrieve to the film in many ways. It is skin that causes tension with her father it is skin that causes her to be humiliated in school and to gravitate towards the black workers on her farm.It is skin that forms an attachment to Petrus, the black employee and first male to show her any understanding of happiness and comfort it is skin that ultimately causes her to be ill-treat by her husband and which make her a reference point for the multiracial elections of 1994 and the victory by Mandelas African National Congress. Living among the black community, Sandra is confronted with racism from within a racism created by racism. After the organisation Issue destruction of the homes, Sandra and Petrus are exiled into the bush along with the many others exiled on the basis of their skin.One can understand Petrus frustration and malaise as he rejects Sandra because she is white. There is truth in his alcohol-infused dirge They treat us like animals and were supposed to believe were human The audience essential wonder how anyone is this predicament would feel a sense of be. Indeed, several instances in the film reinforce Sandras literal and metaphorical nomadism. She is shown coming to and release an environment she is shown walking over the country and back again to queue up a place where she can belong.Sandra is evermore moving or being moved to find a home. Even at the end of the film, when Sandra is shown happily working inside her rainbow-coloured tuck shop, it is a makeshift hang on to her brick unit. So where does that leave the text and the prompt? What does Sandra have connection with? How does the film reflect the idea of connection and identity? Sandra wants only to connect. It is those around her who close out her connection hence preventing her happiness and sense of belonging.Prejudice and bigotry even from her own family are endemic in those who believe there is something wrong in being different, something to scorn and deride. Throughout the film, though, there is one place where Sandra finds a connection, and that is with other women. Sandra is supported and empowered by the women in the film, including the black workers on the family property. The bond of takehood connects them and, regardless of location, women find support in other women. The women pass on her letters.It is her mother who struggles to maintain a relationship with her it is Petrus mother who supports and cuddles her during their exile and it is her mother she seeks out following her abuse. It is the women who reflect the importance of belonging through kindness, compassion and nurturing. The power of women to override the political and cultural divide, and bosom connection, is the empowering fo rce in Skin. In the end, the film confirms that connection does not have to mean a physical or even emotional connection. It can be a spiritual one, and this is what Skin celebrates.Sandras struggle is less about skin colour than it is about knowing that where we find happiness is where we belong. And for Sandra, that is a simple life helping, caring and supporting those less rosy from her Rainbow Tuck Shop. Identity and Belonging Sample prompts * Conflicts can strengthen our understanding of where we belong. * Belonging enriches and challenges identity. * Choosing not to belong may be detrimental but rewarding. Identity and Belonging quotations list An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces nd uses his experience. (James Baldwin Actor)) From the beginning each human embryo has its own genetic identity. (Robert Casey) The value of identity is that so often with it comes purpose. (Richard Grant US writer) We all need a one-time(prenominal) tha ts where our sense of identity comes from. (Penelope Lively English writer) I think history is inextricably linked to identity. If you male parentt know your history, if you dont know your family, who are you? (Mary Pipher) We are shaped by our thoughts, we cash in ones chips what we think. (Buddha)You cant change the past but you can change the way you view it. (Anon) To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest achievement. Ralph Waldo Emerson What a man can be he must be. Abraham Maslow Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. Kenyan Proverb Yes, your home is your castle, but it is also your identity and your possibility to ease up to others. David Soul US writer We may have different religions, different languages, different coloured skin, but we all belong to the human race. Kofi Annan ex President of the United NationsBeing human signifies, for each one of us, belonging to a class, a society, a country, a continent and a civil ization. Claude Levi-Strauss Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is. Baghavid Gita The value of identity is that it so often with it comes purpose. Richard R. Grant Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. George Eliot Topic Sometimes we learn more about ourselves from our enemies than from our friends. When you know who you are, you know where you belong. Without connection to others there is no me. Having a sense of being different makes it difficult to belong.