"half go f*** yourself"

(editor’s note: this was written in 2017)
it's quite rare when (lead and famous) characters actually identify themselves as being mixed. we have no clue as to why this is when there are plenty of mixed actors out there. well, we do have a clue but won’t delve into a tirade on the relation between identity politics and analytics-driven capitalism here :). whatever the case may be, the mixed experience is not one that has been adequately explored on screen. and even when we're surprised by the occasional shoutout to a character's mixed ethnic background, it adds little depth, or is of insignificant consequence to the character's narrative (perhaps the one exception that comes to mind for us is Books' character from the Get Down). adding 'mixed' to a character's description is often merely cosmetic.

the scene below caught our attention. it highlights the subtle difference between being 'mixed' and being 'half'. the difference is not merely one of semantics. dwayne johnson's character deftly handles the awkward and annoying situation that every mixed person has experienced– being asked 'what' they 'are'– by simply saying, "half go fuck yourself". the point is that a person isn't 'half' anything, as that crudely reduces one's personhood down to binary and distinct categories or 'halves', as if they were 'split' and thereby not a cohesive whole. mixies are not 'half' anything, they are wholly who they are. unique and genuinely themselves, irreducible to any one category.

most people have a hard time seeing mixies as unique, un-splintered, individuals. after all, having to explain themselves (when was the last time you had to explain/justify your existence to another human being? yea, mixies experience this daily) is an unfortunate consequence of living in a society dominated by binary-driven discourse.  and that’s just the thing. if you’re unable to understand, respect, or accept that being mixed is not less-than, but being complex, then it just reveals the extent to which prevailing discourses of binary-power have coded your simple-mindedness.

// click image to play clip