Immigration has founded a large part of history of New York City. Yet, it would be more accurate to say that New York City has influenced immigrants greatly rather than immigrants have influenced New York City. From the films “The Jazz Singer” and “Hester Street,” we can see that the conflicts of cultural and religious identity are inevitable as a result of the integration of various cultures in New York City. We know very well that nothing is absolutely good from every perspective. While the integration of different cultures can certainly help to build a more harmonious New York City, conflicts among people from these cultures would certainly exist because they all want to create their own identity that would be accepted in the mainstream culture. In other words, the conflicts of identity among immigrants are the result of the clashing between the “old” and “new” cultures. They are essential steps for immigrants to adapt their new lives in the new country and culture.
“The Jazz Singer” portrayed a typical example of the conflicts between the young immigrants and their parents. Unlike adults, children can accept new things more easily. They wouldn’t determine what is right or wrong based on certain rules. They can only determine things they like or don’t like. This was why little Jackie didn’t think it was wrong to sing jazz songs. Of course, his religious parents would think he has done something wrong since singing jazz songs would blaspheme against their religion. They should not be blamed for the conflicts since they are the result of the clashing between two cultures. Because Jackie is so immersed into the American culture, which greatly emphasized on individualism, he would always think he was right about following his dream. However, his father thought he should follow the family tradition as he and generations of family members did. Yet, at the end when Jackie sang for his father on the holiest religious day, it shows that no matter how the cultures have changed, the roots are still there. Even if Jackie is the best blackface actor on stage, underneath his make up and costumes, his Jewish roots would still influence him.
“Hester Street” showed the typical struggles of immigrants. When immigrants came to America, they wanted to earn money and get accepted into the mainstream culture. Jake was one of them. He wanted to earn plenty of money so he worked in the sweatshop everyday to earn money; he wanted to get accepted among his friends so he betrayed his wife and courted with the Polish girl. He abandoned his culture and religion because he wanted to be a real American. Jake always said to his wife that America is an educated country. In our view, America is characterized for its tolerance of different cultures and religions. We may think it was a little silly when Jake implied to his wife that in order to be educated, she needed to give up the religious traditions. Again, we have to understand the cultural barrier that the immigrants have to overcome when starting their lives all over again in a new country. It is perhaps the only way we can understand Jake’s decisions and struggles.
The Nancy Foner’s book “From Ellis Island to JFK” presented the essential facts of the history of immigration of New York City. These facts are important for us to understand the historical context of the films. From her work, we learned that many Jewish people immigrate to America to escape anti-Semitism in Europe and many other facts. However, we cannot learn about the stories behind these immigrants from these facts. Films can help us to learn about the stories of immigrants. Each immigrant has his or her own stories that are different from the ones a native-born American has. “The Jazz Singer” and “Hester Street” give us a more realistic and humane insight of immigrants’ lives. We can actually “experience” immigrants’ difficulties and struggles through the films. Foner’s book cannot provide us with these insights. Yet, her book gives us numerous resources to help us better understand how the American society has shaped the immigrants’ lives, and to clarify the misunderstanding we have toward immigrants. Both the history and the stories are essential for us to understand the cultural and religious conflicts of identity among immigrants.
