Passing

The thing I find most striking about Passing so far is the relationship between Irene and Clare. Irene is often irritated by Clare and frequently vows to stop speaking to her. Yet each time Irene sees Clare, she is overcome with warm feelings toward her and gives in to all of Clare's wishes. Clare has a certain magnetic quality, perhaps due in part to her beauty, that keeps drawing Irene back to her.

The two characters are also drawn together by what appears to be a mutual fascination with each other. Irene is both horrified and fascinated by Clare's chosen lifestyle of constantly passing. Clare, meanwhile, yearns to reconnect with the African-American community and sees Irene as her key to be able to do this. Clare sometimes feels used because of this, but ultimately continue her relationship with Clare because of her continued fascination and enchantment. Irene's feelings are very strong but they alternate depending on Clare's presence. She seems to have a love-hate relationship with Clare.

Ethnic Notions

The movie we watched in class contained a wealth of interesting material about cultural stereotypes and their extremely common presence in our society not very long ago. The harmful effect of such stereotypes- despite their often lighthearted intent- is clear. Although these images are based on falsehoods and gross exaggeration's- they are often internalized by white audiences as genuine reasons that 'they' are different from 'us'. The image of African-Americans as inferior becomes ingrained from the repeated use of these images.

The fact that some of these images remain with us is a reminder that institutionalized racism was common in this country not long ago, relatively speaking. However, I think that because these images are relatively few and unnoticed (e.g. Aunt Jemima or Uncle Ben), they do not have nearly the societal impact they once did, if they still have any at all. More interesting, I think, is the fact that stereotypes are still being played for laughs. Although most racist caricatures were long ago retired, we've all seen movies or stand-up comedy that relies on worn-out racial stereotypes. I think this is probably the most troublesome legacy of racial images, because people are inclined to repeat and internalize this kind of mass entertainment.