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Coming to America movie cultural analysis
The Influence of American Individualism
American individualism
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The strain between Americanism and Jewish cultural identity is manifested throughout the Krichinsky family in the 1990 film Avalon. While the Krichinsky family is not portrayed as explicitly Jewish in the film, their cultural identity is reflected in their Jewish roots, and one of the strongest aspects of this is in community bonds. Judaism as a religion and as a culture focuses more strongly on family and personal relationships than on the individual. “A large part of Jewish law is about the relationship between man and his neighbors” (Rich). Conversely, the foundations of America were created on independence from Britain, and American identity puts a great deal of respect and importance on self-reliance. While in American culture this ability is exalted as essential, in Avalon, the character’s embrace of individualism begins to draw them apart from each other. The American ideals of individualism and a strong sense of self serve as a catalyst to divide and eventually lead to the isolation of the Krichinsky family in Avalon. In the opening scene of Avalon, the young Sam Krichinsky arrives on the shore of Baltimore, Maryland, on Independence Day. The scene sets a precursor to the sense of individualism that is strung along and emerges towards the end of the movie. The movie opens with Sam’s monologue: “I came to America in 1914… And then I came to Baltimore. It was the most beautiful place you ever seen in your life. There were lights everywhere! What lights they had! It was a celebration of lights! I thought they were for me, Sam, who was in America. Sam was in America! I didn't know what holiday it was, but there were lights. And I walked under them. The sky exploded, people cheered, there were fireworks! What a welcome it w... ... middle of paper ... ...n the beginning of the movie, the Krichinsky clan can be seen as a cohesive and peaceful family, it is when values of the new world—of America—creep in that combativeness arises. The families’ desires to move to their own houses, the dishonesty of Izzie, the cutting of the “toikey”, and Sam’s arrival on Independence Day are all instances in which symbols and values of Americanism seem to cause friction and conflict in the family in Avalon. Eventually, the aforementioned American values become not positive means of morality, but values of devastating intrapersonal consequence to the unity of the Krichinskys. Works Cited Rich, Tracey R. “Judaism 101: Love and Brotherhood”. Judaism 101. 2007. 16 February 2010. < http://www.jewfaq.org/brother.htm> Avalon. Johnson, Mark. Levinson, Barry. Mueller-Stahl, Armin; Jacobi, Lou; Gelt, Grant. DVD. Tristar Pictures, 1990.
Oxtoby, Willard Gurdon. "Jewish Traditions." World religions: western traditions. 1996. Reprint. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2011. 127-157. Print.
In Sherman Alexie’s “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” and “Dead Men’s Path”, the reader is given a glimpse into two different stories but share many similar characteristics of traditions. Tradition is the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information and cultures within a group of people from generation to generation. However, these two stories will reveal that the protagonists in these stories, Michael from “Dead Men’s Path” and Victor from “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” will ignore their own traditions that they face throughout the story. In other words, the protagonists are westernized and have forgotten their own culture, which reflects the theory of the melting pot. The ignorance of ancestry and traditions brings the worst fates into the lives of the protagonists in each story.
On one side, there is Kathy Nicolo and Sheriff Lester Burdon who want the house from which Kathy was evicted. It previously belonged to Kathy’s father and she is reluctant to relinquish possession of it. Then there is the Behranis, a Persian family who was forced to flee to America in fear of their lives. They want the house because it symbolizes their rise from poverty (they had to leave everything behind and were quite poor when they arrived in the United States) back to affluence which, to this family, will help to restore their family’s dignity, lost when thrust into poverty. The story centers on gaining possession of the house. Unknowingly, all of these characters are doomed to tragedy by their inability to understand each other, hurtling down an explosive collision course.
coming in search of gold and everlasting youth, there has been a mystique about the land to which Amerigo Vespucci gave his name. To the Puritans who settled its northeast, it was to be the site of their “city upon a hill” (Winthrop 2). They gave their home the name New England, to signify their hope for a new beginning. Generations of immigrants followed, each a dreamer bringing his own hopes and aspirations to the green shores. The quest was given a name – the American Dream; and through the ages, it has been as much a symbol of America as the lady in the harbor, a promise of America’s riches for all who dare to dream and strive to fulfill their ambitions. Dreamers apotheosized fellow dreamers like Rockefeller and Carnegie, holding them to be the paradigm from which all could follow. But behind the meretricious dream lies the cold reality. A country built upon survival of the fittest has no sympathy for those who serve as the steppingstones for others’ success. For every person who reaches the zenith, there are countless others trapped in the valleys of despair by their heedless dash to reach the top. Playwrights Arthur Miller and Lorraine Hansberry memorialize the failures in their works Death of a Salesman and A Raisin in the Sun. Their central dreamers, Miller’s Willy Loman and Hansberry’s Walter Lee Younger, like children at a candy shop window, are seduced by that success which can be seen so clearly, yet is so unreachable. Ardent followers of the hype of America, they reveal that, far from being a positive motivator, the Ame...
To be concise, Jurgis and his family faced various challenges in America. As a result, their lives changed, for better or for worse. They were inexperienced, and therefore made many mistakes, which made their life in Chicago very worrisome. However, their ideology and strong belief in determination and hard work kept them alive. In a land swarming with predators, this family of delicate prey found their place and made the best of it, despite the fact that America, a somewhat disarranged and hazardous jungle, was not the wholesome promise-land they had predicted it to be.
The country club gave the Patimkin’s a replica of middle class life in America. Since the Patimkin’s were Jewish they didn’t have the opportunity to belong to a regular country club, they belonged to the Jewish one, which is why it was the closest replica of the American dream to them, because they were not allowed to be part of the non-Jewish country clubs. The Patimikin’s represent the new world, they achieved higher success and they are able to identify with the non-Jewish part of middle class society a lot more then their fellow Jewish immigrants who have not fully assimilated to society. On the other side of the coin there is the Klugman family. They represent the old world. They live in the valley with the rest of the Jewish immigrants and they live meagerly because they do not have that much and they have not gained much success in their lives while living in the United States. The two characters that represent the old and new world are Brenda Patimkin and Neil Klugman. To Neil, Brenda represents what he doe...
During the early post-war period, the term youth culture referred to the baby boomers, who made up an enormous portion of every country's population. During the 1960s, the time period this movie is based on, 'youth culture' referred to the teenagers, who were also baby boomers. For the first time in history, teenagers were working, and that means that they had purchasing power. Purchasing power is the single most important thing in an economy. If you are wealthy, every advertisement will be directed toward you, and every marketer will be your 'best friend'. Considering the fact that so many baby boomers had purchasing power, almost every advertisement was directed toward them. The continued success of many reputable businesses heavily relied
...o her husband’s family. While her concern for her parents shows that Lindo did not wish to openly rebel against her tradition, Lindo made a secret promise to herself to remain true to her own desires. This promise shows the value she places on autonomy and personal happiness two qualities that Lindo associates with American culture.
Robinson, B. A. (2008, March 30). Books of the Hebrew Scripture . Retrieved May 7, 2011, from Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_otb3.htm
Finances play a part in everyone’s lives. According to critics, the generation of Millennials have not been the most accomplished in this area. However, new information is on the rise, and it shows that Millennials are becoming more financially stable. The generation of Millennials is a broad group. The group of Millennials associated in this discussion are from the beginning of the Millennial generation, which are those born between the 1980s and 1990s. The Millennials generation itself ranges from the 1980s to 2004. After the Great Recession, the older generation of Millennials had a massive setback with financial security. Since then, Millennials have always been known for having poor finances by critics. Millennials may not
In the October 10, 2011 issue of Time, there is a feature called “The Great American Divide” that reports on money: who has it, who is spending it on what, and how as a country Americans feel about it. This feature also reports something troubling, how the gap between rich and poor is once again growing wide (Sachs, 2011). Shifts in spending, shifts in money control, and a struggle with how to deal with the great money crisis America and Europe face are all discussed in this feature. This feature pulls together how GDP, unemployment rates, consumer consumption, and pricing affect this era of volatility and the shrinking middle class (Foroohar, 2011). This feature also reflects on inflation, economic growth, political stability in emerging markets and taxes play in as well. The answer to solving this imbalance of wealth and the struggling economy may be found by government action, but will it be too late?
During the post Civil War time period, 1865 to 1945, the United States of America was a rapidly changing country. There were many different reforms taking place in the economic, political, and urban systems. The American industry was rising. New inventions, westward expansion, and new federal laws were making the country a melting pot of cultures from around the world. Also during this time period the nation experienced the progressive movement, economic collapse, the great depression, and President Roosevelt’s New Deal. This paper will discuss the evolution of the United States in westward expansion, urbanization, and politics, as well as the rise of American industry, the economic collapse of 1873, and the causes of the great depression.
Acceptance of who we are plays a large part in the overall theme of “rite of passage” in the story. The young girl is opposed to the thought of working for her mother at the beginning, but eventually comes to a realization that it is her pre-determined fate to fit the mould of the gender stereotype. Through the girl’s hardships, she accepts the fact that her younger brother, Laird, is now the man that his father needs for help, and she takes her place in womanhood. The story embodies gender identity and stereotypes, as a young child moves into adulthood. The fact that our rite of passage is unavoidable proves that we must all go through our own journeys to find our own true identity.
The townspeople speak to American culture everywhere and how it developed with the acknowledgment of becoming independent. Americans were attempting to keep its distance from the oppressor, pretty much as Rip would do everything in his power to escape his dominant
Portraying the characters rejection to conformity, American literature illustrates the distinctive following of one's own standards. From what has been analyzed previously, the authors are trying to display a message of change through the characters words and actions. Many times it is apparent that the characters are in there times of most comfort when they are acting in such that makes them their own being, stepping aside from the standards of the rest of society. Writers try to express the importance of stepping outside of that comfort zone in order to grow and develop as a human being. How will one ever know who they are if they conform to be what everyone is told to be? The biggest advocate of rejecting the norms of America is Chris McCandless.