`For Venus smiles not in a house of tears’: Interethnic relations in European cinema

Posted in Articles, Arts, Europe, Media Archive, Social Science on 2009-12-12 22:42Z by Steven

`For Venus smiles not in a house of tears’: Interethnic relations in European cinema

European Journal of Cultural Studies
2003
Vol. 6, No. 1
pages 55-74
DOI: 10.1177/1367549403006001470

Anneke Smelik
University of Nijmegen

In the 1990s, several European filmmakers addressed the Romeo and Juliet motif of `impossible love’ in the context of multiculturalism. A heterosexual love affair between people of different ethnic backgrounds allows filmmakers to address issues of racism and deconstruct racial stereotypes. In the films discussed in this article, the tragic love affairs point to the unwillingness of European countries to become pluralistic and multiethnic societies. Some films have attempted to represent interethnic love relations more hopefully, celebrating happy endings of mixed race couples. The success of such films may indicate that the genre of comedy has won over the tragedy of the Romeo and Juliet topos in cinematic representations of interethnic love relations. Perhaps European cinema is ready to embrace constructions of European identity as hybrid, diverse and multiple.

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