This film affected me remarkably. As an individual of mixed races, I am all too familiar with the dilemma of being caught between cultures and I thought that &#8220;Imitation of Life&#8221; captured the failure of American binaries perfectly.

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

Today, I struggle to understand how some of my beautiful black brothers and sisters hate their faces and hate being black. I struggle when I hear someone say they wish they had “good hair” and not love who they are. Especially now, with all love to my mother and love to my white friends, I have come to wish I wasn’t half white. I have come to rejecting my whiteness in a way. I am in no way saying that I hate or reject white people. Instead I am consciously grabbing the power to identify myself. I claim my blackness with pride, the pride of a people that have had great scientists, inventors, world leaders and shakers, of great men and women throughout history. Outside of physically building America, we have continued to add so much to this nation, culturally and intellectually. We have given it our soul. There is nothing to be ashamed of in being black.

Matthew Braunginn, “BEST OF 2015: Not Quite White,” Madison365, December 29, 2015. http://madison365.com/index.php/2015/12/29/best-of-2015-not-quite-white/.

This film affected me remarkably. As an individual of mixed races, I am all too familiar with the dilemma of being caught between cultures and I thought that “Imitation of Life” captured the failure of American binaries perfectly.

This film affected me remarkably. As an individual of mixed races, I am all too familiar with the dilemma of being caught between cultures and I thought that Imitation of Life captured the failure of American binaries perfectly. It was only by overcoming my desire to be stereotypically beautiful (read: white), was I able to recognize my own place independent of racial expectations. The unresolved ending between Lora and Susie in the 1959 version seems to represent the lack of resolution regarding race. Although troublesome endings may have been a convention of postclassical films, [Douglas] Sirk forces the audience to consider the future of Lora, Steve and Susie, and, in the process, alludes to the unresolved issues of Sarah Jane’s existence. Annie’s death may have forced her to recognize her misgivings as a daughter, but her life as a light-skinned young woman has only begun, just as our battle with civil rights.

Charisse L’Pree, “Imitation of Life,” Charisse L’Pree, Ph.D.: The Media Made Me Crazy, April 20, 2005. https://charisselpree.me/2005/04/20/imitation-of-life/.

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Mixed Race Studies

This film affected me remarkably. As an individual of mixed races, I am all too familiar with the dilemma of being caught between cultures and I thought that “Imitation of Life” captured the failure of American binaries perfectly.

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