Jlna Jalla And One Eye Red Analysis

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 the family, while the host culture is represented through the characterization of Swedish society. The big aspect of hybridity is defined by a theorist

The issue was highlighted by the critic, suggesting the reversal of 'Otherness': “The natives can exclude immigrants, but it is important to acknowledge that immigrants can exclude natives, who may also experience a feeling of otherness in their own culture/country.”3 This is particularly significant in Halim's case in One Eye Red, demonstrating the phenomenon of reverse racism, as he becomes hostile towards Swedish society and the idea of the 'integration plan', seen by him as an attempt to destroy his Arabic identity, which, in fact, he hardly ever possessed, since he was born in Sweden. Halim stands between the two cultures and is torn between the two, leading him to the state of frustration which causes him to hurt himself and the others. This problem is represented in the idea of “the fight”, following which Halim attempts to kill the actor playing the theatre role that Yasmin's father was auditioning