Happy February Everybody!
First and foremost I would like to get some initial reactions off my chest (figuratively speaking of course)
- “You can’t pee up on my back and make me think it’s rain” was by far the best line in Hester Street, I can only describe it as epic as Raymond’s mother (Mrs. Kavarsky) completely stumped Jack leaving him agape.
- Ellis Island had extremely creepy “oooo” sounds, and while I was viewing the video my volume was quite loud so I was thoroughly spooked.
This motif of questioning one’s identity is an interesting notion that I never really considered before, yet it makes perfectly sense. If these men and women are choosing to leave their homeland and come to a new, strange land then they have the opportunity to re-invent themselves. This opportunity in turn brings about the internal conflict and struggle as they face the questions, “who am I?” and “which do I choose?” Interestingly I find it analogous to the question of identity faced by incoming freshmen. A lot of high school seniors decide to reinvent themselves when they’re in college. As they leave their high school world and friends behind, they enter a new world where they can cast away any previous inhibitions, reputations, etc. and start anew.
Although the films were all made in different decades they all depict this struggle of defining oneself. In The Jazz Singer, Jakie rejects his conservative Jewish upbringing and runs away embracing a secular, American culture. And since he practices black face you can argue he embraces the African American culture as well. But the question is why? Jakie loved to sing jazz yet his father and his Jewish upbringing wouldn’t allow him to pursue this passion. However, the African American culture is infamous for their love of jazz, which is why he ran away and embraced a new identity. Unlike Jake in Hester Street, Jakie still had his Jewish roots, which was evident in his flashbacks and his decision to sing the Kol Nidre. This dual identity is what brings out the sense of an unresolved ending.
Jake on the other hand, completely abandons his old ways when he comes to America. He changed his name, doesn’t really know Hebrew, and repeatedly refers to himself as a Yankee. Moreover, when he brings his wife to America he changes his son’s name to Joey and reacts angrily whenever his wife does something un-American. Jake turning his back on his old culture, religion, etc. is what helps bring this film to a resolution. The last shot of the two new couples (Mamie & Jack and Gitl & Bernstein) depicts this, the two made their choices and go on their own paths.
A pivotal scene in Ellis Island that portrays this motif is the lady teaching the immigrants; she might be teaching them English words but she’s really teaching them their new lifestyle and identities, like the man who entered Ellis Island as Elessen Rahmsauer and left Eli Lamb.
Foner’s article offered an interesting perspective on this topic as well. Specifically, the notion of how our perspective on immigrants has changed. Foner suggests that we used to see them as these “heroes who weathered hardships in Europe and a traumatic ocean crossing to make it to America” but now since many immigrants are undocumented they are “stigmatized and unwanted.” Since Foner’s book was written in the early 21st century it gives a more modern point of view on this topic, something the films simply cannot. For me, the films offered a much more engaging perspective to this topic because we got to see the story of these people and witness their struggle of identity, something Foner’s reading couldn’t do.
