Peopling of New York City, Spring 2012

On the surface, the musical West Side Story is a tragic love story that parallels that in William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet. All the elements are there – feuding, illicit love, a tragic end in death. The discerning viewer, though, will realize that the movie is about so much more than a conflict over who can control the basketball court and the tragic romantic consequences that result from this conflict. It is about the struggle between “whiteness” and “otherness” – between what Americans typically view as desirable, normal, and… well, American, and what they view as undesirable, foreign, and un-American.

The working class Jets are clearly unhappy with the presence of the Puerto Ricans – or the “PR’s,” as they choose to call them – on their turf, and it is not simply because they are a rival gang. It is because they are clearly not American – or the “American” that the Jets find acceptable. In the eyes of Riff and his followers, these “others” with darker skin tones and noticeable accents do not belong on the West Side of New York City or even in the United States of America. They do not belong because they are different – separate from the homogenized “white” nucleus. This difference between “white” and “other” is magnified by the writer’s decision to depict a conflict between two rival gangs – two groups of people who share a common identity with those who are also within those groups (but not with those outside of the groups) – and specifically between innocuous “Jets” and dangerous “Sharks”.

This difference is further magnified in scenes such as the one in the dance hall. At the beginning of the scene, the Jets are already in the dance hall enjoying themselves when Bernardo and the other Sharks walk in. The camera shoots across from a wide shot of the glaring Jets to the equally surly looking Sharks and back again. Immediately, the viewer notices that a clear distinction is made between the “white” and the “other” – the Jets are mostly dressed in bright yellows and oranges – happy and friendly colors – while the Sharks are mainly dressed in passionate reds (again, suggesting how “dangerous” and “aggressive” these foreigners are). The distinction is furthered by the two groups’ refusal to mingle, and during the “dance-off,” the clearly “American” and “Latino” styles of dancing that each respective group performs – a refusal to accept and a reluctance to be accepted.

The scene on the roof, which follows immediately after the dance hall scene, is only further proof that – although one can dream about an equal “America” – there really does not seem to be any hope for these marginalized people, who will always be viewed as different.

Though Brother from Another Planet is set in a later decade and one would assume that there is more equality between black people and white people, it is clear that there is still a separation between the two – a separation between who and what is above 110^th Street (“black” and “other”) and who and what is below it (“white”). This is clear in the subway, when the boy tells Brother he “can make all the white people disappear.” As the P.A. announces the final stop before Harlem, the camera pans to the opening doors of the subway car, and the audience is left to watch the backs of white people as they pour out into the station. Another scene – the one depicting the two men who are on their way to a convention but get a little lost – shows that this “discrimination” is two-sided. The camera starts with a close shot of the two identically dressed white men and slowly zooms out to show their surroundings. As the two men discuss being lost, several black men and women are seen staring at them as they pass, as if they are foreign objects – clearly they do not belong.

The fact that this white couple is identically dressed is interesting to note, given that the only other white couple – the two bounty hunters searching for Brother – is also dressed in matching attire. Just as making such a distinction in clothing in West Side Story served to create and emphasize a separation between one group of people and another, the choice to have the two white couples dressed similarly serves to homogenize this group and exclude the “other” – the black. (I also believe Brother’s apparent muteness to be symbolic of vocal exclusion by the “white” group.)

And even though even more time has passed between now and the decades in which West Side Story and Brother from Another Planet are set, immigrant and minority populations continue to be marginalized in our society. As William V. Flores writes in “Citizens vs. Citizenry,” even American-born men and women of Mexican ancestry find themselves struggling daily to “belong.” My fear is that those Americans who continue to balk at the idea of sharing their America with others may make “belonging” an impossibility for these individuals.

Often times the immigrants to a new nation are never completely accepted as members of that nation.  They are seen by the natives are aliens that are completely different than themselves.  They are from a different planet with strange customs, whether they’ve been in the country for years or only a few days.  The films Brother from Another Planet and West Side Story give accurate portrayals of this attitude towards immigrants.

In Brother From Another Planet, one scene that just jumps out as being a perfect example of this attitude towards the foreigner is the scene in the bar when the two white men from Indiana walk in.  They are subsequently met with stares from the bar regulars.  These tourists are the outsiders and obviously just don’t belong.  Even though they are Americans by virtue of birth, in Harlem they are the “aliens.” Now, arguably, Indiana is a completely different world than New York City, but that’s beside the point. These men obviously did not fit into the scene and did not “belong” in that bar.  Ironically, “the brother” who actually was an alien, is treated as more of an “insider” and belonging member, seemingly just because he looks like he belongs.  When he first walks in to the bar after crashing to Earth the regulars call him “brother” and offer him a drink.  He is largely treated like one of them, and not an outsider.

West Side Story tells a similar tale and expresses the same attitude towards the “foreigner” as being an outsider and not belonging to the group.  Though the Puerto Ricans and the “Sharks” are not new immigrants to the United States and have been in America for years, they are treated as strange aliens, not to be intermixed with the white community, the “Jets.”  One moment that I feel illustrates this division very clearly is at the dance.  The whites and the Puerto Ricans stay on extreme opposite sides of the room with what seems like an invisible, but very real wall between them.  It’s like they are in two different worlds.  The languages spoken are different, as is evident when Maria is introduced to those already at the dance, as well as the style of dance.  When they are forced together in an attempt to get them to mingle, they give each other looks of disgust and scurry away from their chance partners in order to dance with one of their own kind.  As Alberto Sanchez mentions, even their appearances are radically different.  All of the Sharks look similar and all of the Jets look similar.  There are no darker skinned or dark haired Jets—to be darker would lead to being closer to being part of the rival gang, which can’t happen.  During the “America” scene, it is remarked by various members of the Sharks that they aren’t any worse off than any of the Jets.  They work hard and have assimilated, while some of the parents of the Jets haven’t—yet they are the ones that are the “immigrants” and discriminated against.  Like in Brother From Another Planet, the fact that they look different is the reason why they are treated as second class citizens, if citizens at all.  While they may be further down the road to complete assimilation culture wise than the families of the Jets, they will never be seen as fully assimilated and will have to continue to prove themselves by the stereotypical, golden-boy “Americans.”

Immigration is a continual struggle, a process that, with enough progressive sentiment and resilience, culminates in assimilation. We all are guilty of prolonging the immigrant’s journey towards social acceptance through our tendency to reject the foreign and stick to our own ground that ultimately constructs the invisible barriers of prejudice that immigrants must overcome to reach social equilibrium. The Brother from Another Planet (1984) and West Side Story (1961) both shed light on the experience of immigrants who are faced with the struggles of the marginal citizen.

West Side Story (1961) illuminates the experience of Puerto Rican immigrants through gang-rivalry, a wonderful approach at displaying the struggle for space. William V. Flores argues the importance of the creation of cultural communal space, a natural step in establishing the immigrant’s place in society. The gang rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks is fueled by mutual hate due to race and culture; however, these ill sentiments are brought into view because of the space issues. Both the police and the Jets are discontented with the “PR” invasion that they must deal with, and show their discontent through insults geared at language (“Buenas Noches” is constantly used throughout the film to reaffirm the Sharks’ status as foreigners), race (“PRs”) and culture. The Sharks have to deal not only with the issue of maintaining their space in society, but also with the countless social boundaries they are faced with throughout their struggle.

The scenes that most vividly distinguish these socio-cultural boundaries all take place within the soda pop bar. Anita, bearing news for Tony, steps into the bar and is confronted by a chiding group of Jets members. Immediately, a Latin-infused song begins playing while the Jets continue to evade answering Anita’s questions. Soon, they begin surrounding her, calling out every common Spanish phrase that comes to mind, the camera zooming in and out, fluctuating between the face-to-face confrontation and shots of the gang gradually enclosing around her. Soon, the music picks up and the camera follows the crowd as they humiliate Anita, tossing her back and forth in some cruel take on a Latino dance. Early on in the scene, a calendar can be spotted on the wall near the entrance, sporting the American flag, symbolizing the freedom of our country. However, in this bar, no such freedom exists to the culturally prosecuted; Anita, despite her willingness to help, cannot get a word out before she is publicly humiliated, simply because of her race and affiliation with the Puerto Rican Sharks.

The Brother from Another Planet (1984) approaches assimilation from a different perspective. To reference Flores’ concept of space, African Americans during this time period have already acquired their own physical space, Harlem, the community into which our alien friend is dropped into, however, they have not quite fully assimilated into existing society (if that is even possible), rather, created their own, based on shared racial and cultural identity. The movie portrays the stark differences between Harlem and the non-minority world around it through the adventures of two lost middle-American men that stubble in Harlem. A long shot reveals the foreign world they find themselves in as soon as the realization dawns upon them. Later on, the two find themselves at the same bar all other migrants, other worldly or not, find themselves in. At first, their awkwardness is apparent, not at all in their comfort zone, however, after a few too many beers, they admit that African American’s aren’t what they thought previously, and leave the bar shortly after. The close shots squeezing together black and white increase the racial tension of the bar scene, and even after they become inebriated, the bartender’s firm statement of train directions indicate that the two groups aren’t completely comfortable, nor happy with each other’s presence. In this interesting take on migration, the minority becomes the native and the white man invasive of the cultural space of Harlem.

Happy Wednesday Everybody!

One would think the physical aspect of immigrating to America was the most difficult aspect of the process, I mean once you’re in America, you’re set, right? WRONG. 🙁

Unfortunately, there are several more obstacles that these individuals face. As these films and readings illustrate, being in America doesn’t mean you’re American. At one point in West Side Story, Bernardo says, “…we came in like children, believing, trusting…” this exemplifies how Bernardo and the rest of his friends and family, entered in America thinking they would be welcomed, accepted, assimilated, treated as an American. Similarly, Caryl Phillips repeats the line, “sinking hopeful roots into difficult soil” often throughout her work, Crossing the River. Here, Phillips is trying to say that many immigrants come to America with such high hopes and expectations (hopeful roots). These hopeful roots ‘sink’ into the “difficult soil” of America, full of all these prejudices and forces that prevent them from fully being assimilated and accepted.

Brother from Another Planet is very interesting because to me, it seemed the science-fiction aspect of the film, the fact that Brother was an alien actually allowed the character to be assimilated and become what Guerero describes as a “model minority.” His alien nature and psychic abilities allowed him to interact with various individuals of all different races and backgrounds. This feat is even more impressive when one considers the fact that Brother could not speak, an ingenious choice by the director.

Naturally, he was accepted by his fellow African-Americans but he was also accepted by the Latin-American who worked in that arcade, the owner of the arcade (this was only due to the fact that Brother could fix his games, something that appealed to the capitalist owner), the girl who was playing at the arcade, the two men who ended up in Harlem by accident, etc. I think the director wanted to show that sometimes having the ability to talk and communicate with one another is what actually creates the divisions of racism and prejudices that prevent assimilation.

Brother made all these connections with so many different people and he couldn’t utter a single word. In West Side Story all the characters could talk, better yet, they could spontaneously break out into song! Yet the racial barriers were evident from the first few minutes of the film. With communication comes connection, but also disconnection as racism, hate, etc. creep in and corrupt what could be a positive and unifying force.

In West Side Story, one pivotal scene that portrays these boundaries is when the Puerto Ricans sing and dance the song “America.” Anita and the women represent immigrants who embrace America and the opportunities one can find here. Bernardo and the men however, represent the immigrants who see the boundaries that prevent them from being assimilated and consequently, hate America.

This scene was great because each side would defend their views by bringing up different points and each of these points were complimented by the dance that accompanied the song. For instance, one point Bernardo and the guys brought up was the notion that you can have some things in America that is if you can fight in America. As they sung these words they pretended to kick and punch one another.

Anita and Maria are the two most interesting characters for me because they start the film with their heads in the clouds and not practical, like Bernardo. They don’t see the boundaries or the hate that is at the heart of the feud between the Jets and the Sharks. But after the rumble, everything changes. When Anita goes to find Tony and tell him that Maria is coming, the rest of the Jets harass her in such a disgusting, vulgar manner that it pushes her over the edge. The Anita that loved America was gone at this point, she was angry and full of hate, so much so that she told the Jets that Chino killed Maria. Similarly, when Chino murders Tony and she takes the gun she says “I can kill now, because I hate now!”

On a more whimsical note, there are two big things I took from these films. First, in Brother from Another Planet, I loved the old man in the bar so much that I’m going to start randomly saying “Diagnosis!” Second, when I was watching West Side Story I paused the movie and ran around my house because I couldn’t believe that the songs “America” and “Pretty” were from this movie. It was mind blowing.

Diagnosis!

I warned you.

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.