Essay Sample on Assimilation of New York Immigrants

Introduction

New York City serves as home to over 8 million people. It is the largest city in America and serves as the financial capital of the World. The city has one of the most racially diverse population in the world consisting of approximately 33% non-Hispanic white, 23% non-Hispanic black, 0.7% Native Americans and 12.7% Asians (World Population Review 2). The Hispanics, at 28% are the second largest race. The population of New York started growing the early 1800s and peaked in the early 20th century. The huge ratio of population increase was due to the rapid entry of immigrants. Ellis Island formerly part of New York became famous as the immigrant entry door. Millions of immigrants were processed through Ellis Island in 60 years. A large number of those immigrants chose to settle in New York. Immigration became the driver of change in the city of New York as those immigrants established businesses and provided labor in the lower levels of the economy. However, despite their settlement, the immigrants remain divided between two cultures. They try to embrace the culture and idealism of New York and America at large while maintaining their traditional practices. Hollywood, in particular, has been focused on highlighting the struggles of immigrants who were trying to integrate into the American lifestyle. Filmmakers use cinematic elements such as camera placement, color, and lighting, as well as dialogue to depict how immigrant families try to assimilate into American society and their struggles in the process.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Camera placement is one of the cinematic elements that filmmakers use to show how immigrant communities struggle to identify themselves as part of New York City. Films such as Shadows by Cassavetes explores the interracial relationship in New York during the 1950s. The story moves back and forth between Benny, his sister Leila, and their older brother Hugh. The type of shots chosen by the film directors highlight a particular aspect of New York society at the time about immigrants. The cinematographers use close up shots and extreme close up shots looking for their facial expressions as they communicate. An example is a conversation between Leila, David, and Tony (Cassavetes 0:29:00-0:31:00). David who is of different ethnic identity struggles to maintain the conversation after Tony interrupts his conversation with Leila. When Tony and Leila start kissing, the camera zooms out to take a high angle shot of the three characters. David's facial expression and body movements clearly show that he doesn't know how to deal with such situations because of his background. Another representation of conflict in ethnic identity is Tony's reaction when he finds out that Leila, a girl he has just hooked up with is black. Tony realization came when Leila opened the door for Hugh and presented him to Tony as her brother. The close-up shot of Tony's face reveals his disgust when he realizes that the girl he's with is of black heritage (Wojcik 246). The fact that Tony hooked up with Leila without knowing her race shows that Leila had assimilated into the white culture and abandoned most of the practices that are typical to the black population. Such mannerisms placed her at odds with the rest of her family members who saw her behavior as a betrayal to their culture.

Color and lighting are some of the cinematic elements that film directors use to show the struggle of immigrants and their families go through as they try to fit in the American society. A good example is a movie Hester Street by Silver. Silver tells the story of a Russian Jew immigrant who moved to America in the late 1800s. He manages to find a job and tries to raise some money for his family to join him in America. He successfully manages to assimilate to American lifestyle by learning English and even changing his name from Yankel Bogovnik to Jake. The story gets complicated when he falls in love with an American dancer named Mamie. When his wife and daughter move to America, Yankel compares her to his mistress Mamie and finds himself unattracted to his wife because she is having a difficult time assimilating into the American lifestyle. The cinematography uses color and lighting to show how immigrants have difficult time fitting into the American lifestyle. One standout feature is that the film was deliberately filmed in black and white (Ness par.2). The director's decision to shoot in black and white enables the viewer to focus on the events surrounding the characters and their actions rather than the objects in the film. For instance, the scene between 24:00 and 25:00 of the movie by Silver shows a conversation between Yankel and his wife. Because of the director's decision to film in black and white, the viewer remains focused in the dialogue between Yankel and Gitl. Also, one can notice that most immigrant houses in certain color schemes that make them different from other American dwellings. The lack of color in the film Hester Street shields it from most of these stereotypes exhibited in these films. However, some features of the room from that specific shot still stand out to show that they have a different culture. The pattern of the sheets and the basket on the left stand out as some of the objects that are typical in a Jewish house. It shows that Yankel's is yet to assimilate his home into an American lifestyle despite his efforts.

Dialogue is among the cinematic elements that filmmakers use to show the struggles that immigrant families and communities as they try to assimilate. An example of dialogue in a movie is the scene in Hester Street when Yankel it talking with his wife trying to get her to stop wearing kerchiefs. According to Yankel, they are now in America, and they should work and behave like Americans. Among the behaviors is women were not wearing Kerchiefs. Yankel also tells Gitl that women in America don't wear wigs. Based in his reaction earlier, one could see that he is unattracted to Gitl. His response when his wife places her hands around his neck may be because of the two factors. But the dialogue further allows the viewers to get a glimpse of Gitl's thoughts on the issue of assimilation. Gitl turns down her husband's proposition because according to their culture, a married woman should not expose her hair to outsiders. The dialogue shows that the immigrant family is in a dilemma. They want to embrace their new life in America and assimilate into American society. On the other hand, choosing to adopt American practices means going against their traditional beliefs and practices. The immigrant family finds themselves torn between cultures. They want to identify with both cultures but walking the middle ground seems impossible.

Conclusion

New York City is the entry point for most immigrant families who come to America. Most of these immigrant families choose to stay in New York because of its diversity. Immigrant families in New York remain in neighborhoods that have a high number of people from the same country of origin. Assimilation is one of the struggles that these immigrants go through. Filmmakers have been keen to reflect the efforts of immigrants as they try to settle into American life. Cinematic elements such as camera placement through close up and angle shots. There are the color and lightning by filming in black and white as well as dialogue, which shows a conflict of cultures. These three elements are examples of cinematic elements used by cinematographers to show how immigrant families struggle to settle in New York.

Works Cited

Hester Street. Dir. Joan Micklin Silver. Perf. Steven Keats, Carol Kane, and Mel Howard. 1975. CD.

Shadows. Dir. John Cassavetes. Perf. Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni, and Hugh Hurd. 1960. Internet.

Ness, Caro. Hester Street. 08 August 1975. Internet. 08 2019 2008. <https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/hester-street-film-review-by-caro-ness>.

Wojcik, Pamela Robertson. "Chapter 5." Wojcik, Pamela Robertson. The Apartment Plot: Urban Living in American Film and Popular Culture, 1945. Durham: Duke University Press, 2010. 246-248. Print.

World Population Review. New York City, New York Population 2018. 30 October 2018. Website. 7 January 2019. <http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/new-york-city-population/>.