The ethnic flood of immigrants the swept the banks of New York during the late 19th and early 20^th century became paramount in shaping the cultural identity of New York. Waves of new tradition, religion and race came into clash with the already existing customs present in America. Out of this continuous dialectic the cultural foundation of our city was gradually concretized.

The individual immigrants that resided in New York City faced the same conflict their city did; they were forced to adapt to their new situation, either by assimilating into the already existing culture or clinging tight to their old-world traditions. This identity crisis is clearly illustrated through the tales of Jewish immigrants in The Jazz Singer (1927) and Hester Street (1975), two films that juxtapose the strict, reserved traditions of Orthodox Judaism with the surrounding contemporary culture of America.

The Jazz Singer pits Jackie Rabinowitz against his conservative Jewish father in the pursuit of his dream career as a jazz singer. The only problem: Cantor Rabinowitz fiercely opposes the application of “God’s gift” of voice to jazz, convinced his son will become a Cantor like his forefathers before him. Jazz music had its roots in African American culture, and apart from diverging from his religious expectations; a career in Jazz would mean crossing ethno cultural boundaries unfamiliar to old-world Jewish immigrants. The pressure of his identity crisis is summed up through the choice he must make at the end of the movie: perform at what may be his only chance to make it big or sing the Kol Nidre for his father’s sake. I personally did not appreciate the unrealistic ending, in which Jackie was able to attend both events.

Hester Street focused on the newly arrived Jewish immigrants, primarily from Eastern Europe that settled on the Lower East Side. Jake, we gather, was an observant Jew from Eastern Europe, who, upon arriving in America, denounced the highly religious customs of the motherland. The movie makes his separation from these old ways apparent, contrasting his language, appearance, name and attitude with that of his orthodox wife. In fact, she is the one faced with the identity crisis in this movie. She is forced, pressured by her husband, to choose between following the orthodox customs she was raised under and dropping them in favor of the American life style. According to Jake, people in America are educated; in his opinion, his wife’s wig and kerchief are absurd. It is clear to Gitl that America has changed her husband. She suffers as a result of his oppressive pressure for change. More to my liking, she makes a clear-cut decision; she chooses to divorce and ends up with someone she can identify herself with, without having to change who she is.

Both movies capture the struggle immigrants must go through upon arrival to New York City, illustrating the difficult crisis of identity newcomers must come to terms with. The Jewish tradition and the orthodox identity, the focus of these two movies, contrasts heavily with the contemporary culture of the time, and acts as a perfect example of the adjustment many immigrants have to make in order to assimilate to their new environment.

Vast oceanic barriers and strictly emphasized borders divide nations and cultures. Thus is born the fear of the unknown stranger on the other end who speaks a foreign language, eats the unthinkable, and dresses like an alien. The familiarity of one’s nation and its people is comforting, for one can relate to the other in every tradition and ritual that is practiced. But what if this comfort of familiarity is suddenly snatched from one’s atmosphere? What if strangers from other ends of the globe come to propinquity with oneself? Cultures will be threatened. They will clash and intermingle as they meet new customs. In this chaotic jumble, it is the people who will suffer. Confusion will plague minds, as the inevitable question of identity will rise.

America falls victim to such a clashing of worldwide cultures. People travel in perilous conditions to reach this land of hopes, wishing to rejuvenate life and grasp opportunities. Nancy Foner mentions the multiple reasons that attract people to this nation, including population growth, persecution, chain migration and even global capitalism. She comments on the ethnic diversity of Hispanics and Asians and Africans that flood America, specifically New York City. Her elaboration on cultural diversity lets one to realize the multitude of cultures that flood the nation. Although the nation warmly welcomes immigrants and their cultures (chain migration has after all allowed for places like Little Italy and Chinatown to flourish), it boldly introduces them to its own unique modernity and cultural values. Without much effort, the nation offers a new culture to these immigrants. In addition, it allows them to see the unique cultures of Africans, Europeans, or Asians who were once just distant strangers. Such introductions however, came off threatening to immigrants who wished to live in this diverse nation yet, grasp solely the culture of the nation they once belonged to. Over time, America’s history began to see conflicts of racial and religious identities. People parted from one another because while one desired to fit in and follow the new modern culture, the other wished to strictly follow his ancient culture and tradition.

Micheal Rogin mentions critics like D.H. Lawrence and Richard Slotkin who argue that American literature and films “establish national identity” (419) as they depict racial and ethnic struggles. In my opinion, this notion works vice versa as well, since the nation’s identity offers authors and filmmakers with ideas to work with as well. Whichever the case may be, America has earned a persona of having cultural clashes and identity confusions, which have been portrayed in many moves including The Jazz Singer and Hester Street.

The Jazz Singer portrays intolerance of one culture towards another. Whether Cantor Rabinowitz solely fears the Lord and wishes for his son to follow his footsteps or whether he floats on ethnocentrism, we see a father completely prejudice to the musical style of another culture. The Cantor struggles with accepting the fact that his son is interested in Jazz, the music of African Americans. Jackie lives in America and happens to be exposed to a genre of music that enthralls him. Unfortunately however, this kind of music must only come out of a blackface because jazz is labeled as black music. Jackie begins to struggle with his identity because he is born Jewish and expected to become a cantor, yet he desires to sing jazz. The protagonist changes from Jackie to Jack, as he uptakes his jazz career and sings with a painted black face. We see Jakie/Jake’s split identity and his identity confusion as the man goes through a name change and a face change as well. Micheal Rogin talks about white jazz singers with blackface and even questions labeling jazz as black music. He firmly believes in cultural diffusion and states that jazz traveled through America from the South to the North, and touched many Jews on its way. These Jews were in similar racially brutalized conditions as the Africans. Jazz served an expressive purpose for both of these ethnic groups. Hence, not only does The Jazz Singer tell the audience that immigrants voluntarily lived in rigid conditions abound to their cultures, they rejected other cultures and anything that they labeled to belong to another culture as well. Cantor Rabinowitz was too blinded by his religion and culture to ever realize that perhaps jazz too held strong Jewish roots. This film depicts one of the luckier endings however, for Jack can hold on to his cultural roots as he sings on Yom Kippur and grasp the new culture by singing jazz music to an audience. Unfortunately, he must still sing this music with a blackface and this is the very issue that the movie raises. It questions the cultural divisions that the society has placed on people, and allows the audience to see that people can take part in religious as well as cross-cultural interests.

Another case of identity struggle is touched on in Hester Street. The protagonist’s name change from Yankel to Jake is the most obvious giveaway of the internal conflict that the man faces. He tries his very best to talk like an American, look like a Yankee, and make sure he is never mistaken to be Jewish. Jake is struggling to detach a part of him that can never be erased, and this conflict is highlighted when his traditional wife comes to America. The clashing of cultures is evident as Gitl holds on to her religion and traditional attire, restraining from any Genile behavior. Jake in contrast, only feels embarrassed of his wife’s un-American ways, cuts his son Yossele’s hair and even renames him Joey. Jake has allowed the new nation to rejuvenate and renew himself, for he has given himself a new American identity. While this notion sits well with himself and his peers, Gilst finds it absurd to change oneself and cut oneself from the holy threads of Judaism and Russia. It is for this reason that Gilst finds solace in Bernstein in the end. As Jorn K. Bramman states, this movie asks the audience whether it is better to “find one’s identity as a member of a traditional community with its time-honored ways and values, or whether people would be happier and more authentic by leaving behind the old ways and becoming individuals of a new type—the modern, American type.” Jake obviously choses to leave behind the old ways and falls in love with Mamie the dancer, who is a young American girl. The film resolves the identity conflict by showing that one can chose their own path in this nation. On one end, Gilst and Bernstein live a happy Jewish life while Jack and Mamie live their fabricated American life on the other end.

Rogin’s opinions made perfect sense to me and I definitely agreed with much that he had to say. I agree that blackface freed people from barriers that once bound them, and this enabled Jake to sing jazz. Although Jake had a blackface, his emphasized lips were white. He was after all a white man stepping into the territory of another culture. Cross-cultural interest was taboo in society, but it was the truth that could not be denied by panting one’s face. I was made aware of the fact that African Americans and Jews were united under nativism and racism, and jazz was their form of expression. In addition, I come to understand that it was cultural diffusion that spread Jazz from the African Americans to the Jews. Over all, I came to agree with and learn from many of Rogin’s remarks in his Blackface, white noise- Critical Inquiry.

The issue of identity became very apparent after watching the films Hester Street (1975) and The Jazz Singer (1928). Through the characters and their situations, we can observe identity conflicts that deal with religion, traditions, nationality, culture, and even family. In Hester Street, although many of the characters face an identity crisis, the focus is placed on Jake and Gitl. Jake is an immigrant that comes to America in order to get away from his former identity. He desperately wants to be Americanized and to drop his old traditions, religion, and culture. He is so desperate in fact that he leaves behind his wife and his young son because they interfere with his transformation. He finds a job as a tailor, changes his appearance, doesn’t follow the religion he was raised with, and finds a girlfriend. He is happy being someone completely different. Gitl, on the other hand, struggles to hold onto her traditions, religion, and culture. She decides, however, to follow her husband to America. She takes their son and finds Jake. Jake is terrified at the threat that Gitl poses. He is afraid that she will ruin his new life and remind him of whom he used to be. He forces Gitl to change and to become an American. He makes Gitl learn English, change her clothes, drop her religion, and do many other things that assist in her conformity. Gitl struggles with such demands but is willing to do them for the husband that she loves. In the end, it is not enough for Jake. He is not happy with her anymore and asks for a divorce. The divorce is finalized, Jake marries his girlfriend and continues living with his new identity, while Gitl returns to her former identity and finds someone that accepts her for the person that she is.

This theme of acceptance is also important when it comes to the movie The Jazz Singer (1928). The main character Jakie is torn between two directions, one that will make his father happy and one that will make him happy. His true passion is being a jazz singer but his father wants him to keep the religious role of singing at the synagogue. He struggles throughout the movie to gain his father’s acceptance just as he has gained his mother’s. Jakie dreams of his career and of being famous but is often torn apart by the guilt that he possesses. Should he keep the identity that his father desires or should he create the identity that he knows will bring him joy? In the end, he is forced to make a decision but fortunately, for him, he manages to make both him and his father happy. Before his father passes away, he sings at the synagogue for the holiday and later is able to perform in a show that his mother and friends come to watch. Jakie successfully upholds both identities even though one of them was only temporary. Although both of the movies fail at resolving the issues in a clear-cut manner, each of the characters ends up living with the identity that they longed for.

Relating Foner’s description of immigration history to the movies we watched is somewhat difficult because she misses a lot of the aspects of personal experience. As shown in Hester Street, not all of the immigrants came to America because of economic or political reasons. Many of them came in order to follow their dreams, to become someone. There is a quote that she includes in her writing that portrays this dream. It goes as follows: “My father was inspired by a vision. He saw something- he promised us something. It was this ‘America’. And ‘America’ became my dream.” This quote can easily be applied to Jake’s motives for coming to America. He too had a dream. Yes, he did want to escape some of the conditions that existed in his home country, but it was a running to something as well as a running away from something. The other part of her writing that can be applied to Jake is the common saying among Russian Jews that she includes. The saying answers the question of “who leaves for America” and the answer is “the tailors, shoemakers, and horse thieves” Jake fits into that because he becomes a tailor in America in order to get by. Foner speaks mostly about the present day immigrants and although there are similarities, there are very few. So, I will conclude this section of my post.

** Overall, I found both movies enjoyable and excellent at portraying the issues faced by many immigrants. However, Hester Street was my favorite because of the complexity found in the relationship between the two main characters. They loved each other in the past but their desires, beliefs, and customs tore them apart in the end. It really showed how important it is for two people to be on the same path if they want to be together. Sometimes, as unfortunate as it is, people must follow their own paths, wherever they may lead.

Upon watching the films entitled Ellis Island, The Jazz Singer, and Hester Street, the costumes of the main characters really caught my eye. I believe that the costumes of the principal characters were used to communicate the idea that individuals, especially those living in the diverse population of America, are too complex to be placed in a single category.

In Ellis Island, The costumes of the immigrants and those of the visitors were very different. The immigrants were portrayed in black and white, making their drab clothing varying shades of grey. Alternately, the visitors were wearing brightly colored shirts, pants, and skirts. This alone could be seen to indicate that the immigrants and visitors were clearly completely different and unconnected, however, within the context of the rest of the film, their vastly different costumes only emphasized the fact that they had many similarities. Both groups were depicted as passing through Ellis Island, portraying the fact that the two groups were connected by history and often ancestry as well. While it seems that the immigrants alone are being detained by guards and treated as less than human, being measured and checked for ailments like livestock, the visitors too are being herded through the facility by tour guides. These aspects of the film clearly show that the two seemingly disparate groups shared many similarities. This fact makes the overstated costumes of the immigrants and visitors a way of stating that their respective apparel are simply different costumes covering similar individuals.

The overstated costumes worn by Jackie Rabinowitz in The Jazz Singer, also serve to emphasize the fact that individuals cannot be labeled or defined by a single aspect of their characters. Jakie finds himself torn between his Jewish heritage and his desire to be a Jazz singer. He feels he must choose between them however, one can tell by the costumes he wears throughout the film, he does not belong solely in one category. Upon choosing to say Kol Nidre instead of perform Jazz, Jakie puts on the ceremonial robes of a cantor that, though natural looking on his father, seem out of place on him. However, when Jakie performs Jazz, he dresses up in Blackface, which is also not his natural appearance. This is clearly meant to express that he cannot be defined strictly as either a Jew or a Jazz singer for he does not strictly belong in either category.

Lastly, in Hester Street, one can tell by the costumes Jack wears that he can never truly abandon his Jewish heritage for that of a gentile. Jack usually dresses in the casual apparel of a gentile but does not truly feel comfortable in this clothing. For example when the residents of his apartment venture to the park, Jack feels the need to reassure himself that he looks like a gentile by asking Mr. Bernstein and Gitle to confirm it. He obviously does not feel like he really belongs in those clothes. However, he looks decidedly unnatural wearing the tallis when mourning his father. Even in his final attempt to leave his heritage behind by divorcing Gitle, one can see he is not successful in that he is forced to acknowledge the Jewish side of himself by divorcing her as Yankele, not Jack.

An individuals identity cannot be determined solely by either their past or present cultural or religious affiliations.

“Struggle” is a key theme I came across in the readings and films for this week. Not only did immigrants struggle on the journey to America, but they also struggled once they had arrived in America. Most of these struggles are elaborated on by Nancy Foner in From Ellis Island to JFK. Immigrants struggled with their decision to leave their native country, whether rich or poor, and had to struggle to actually get on a boat, or in our time a plane, to reach America. Upon arriving in America, most immigrants struggled in social and economic ways. The social struggle can be seen in the films The Jazz Singer and Hester Street. Immigrants and their children labored in identifying themselves, trying to act as Americans sometimes, or act like they would in their homeland.

In the films Hester Street and The Jazz Singer, both main characters find difficulty and struggle trying to adapt to American ways, coming from traditional Jewish families. In Hester Street, the character Jake represents an immigrant trying his hardest to assimilate and become “American.” He changes his name, like many immigrants that passed through Ellis Island. He tries to force his wife, Gitl, to assimilate as well. However, Gitl does not really assimilate as readily as her husband. Jake even has an affair with an American woman, Mamie, further throwing away and ignoring his Jewish heritage. To me, Jake represents a man that wants to be American, an immigrant that dreamed of the bright lights and dreams of living in America, throwing away the signs of the traditional Jewish man that he was. Gitl was the one that struggled, trying to find a middle ground between her Jewish heritage and American life. But the end ironically shows Gitl looking westernized and happy, a contrast to her unwillingness throughout the film. I feel that instead of leaving all her heritage in the past upon coming to America, like Jake, Gitl transitioned herself and was able to find a middle ground between being a Jewish woman and an American. “A Jew is a Jew” was a quote from the film that struck me and kind of represented that Jake could not fully change himself.

In The Jazz Singer, Jakie tries to find his identity; whether he would want to make his parents happy, or pursuing his dreams as a jazz singer. It’s the classic immigrant question. “Should I listen to my parents and become ______ or should I follow my dreams, even if I’m bound to fail?” The film does not really provide a concrete solution to this, showing Jakie at the end doing both. The film used really strong imagery and the first use of synchronized audio to show the differences between the Jewish and Jazz life, but didn’t really execute in defining a strong choice.

Out of both of these films the plight of an immigrant is best shown in The Jazz Singer when Jakie goes blackface. Michael Rogin elaborates on this pivotal scene in “Blackface, White Noise.” By painting his face black and singing Jazz, Jakie represents an American; free, lively and entertaining. In the Jewish garments and singing Kol Nidre, Jakie is the Jewish immigrant; restricted, orthodox, and traditional. Even the sounds in the songs sharply contrasted each other. The Kol Nidre used long, deep notes and stiff posture. The jazz songs were short, stutter-y, and spontaneous (I think Jakie was shuffling when he was singing Jazz as a child). They’re almost complete opposites. Rogin says this dual identity is what was missing with Jews in Hollywood. “Moguls left their Jewish wives in the 1930s and eliminated Jewish life from the screen. They bid farewell to their Jewish pasts with The Jazz Singer.”