The Jazz Singer

I wacthed The Jazz Singer (1927) in my class. It is the first film with synchronized dialogue, but most part of this movie is silent. The actor's faces expressing their feelings are impressive for me because the film depicts the story without color and voice. The songs used in this movie also play important role. They are used along the character's feeling. For example, I can receive main character's feeling by the rhyme of the word.

I am interested in the relationship of the son, mother, father, and their heritage. They all struggle against their feelings and their duty as Jewish.

The son (Jakie) who has a passion for singing jazz tries to succeed in white culuture. He leaves his home and efface his Jewish heritage by changing name. However Jakie can't abandon his family and identity as a Jewish. The night before his big show which is important for his career of jazz singer, he shows discomposure with saying " in my heart - maybe it's the call of the ages - the cry of my race." "The Day of Atonemnent is the most solemn of our holy days - and the songs of Israel are tearing at my heart." In my opinion, his Jewish heritage sinks into his psyche even if he wants to live a different life from his father. He wears blackface at the rehearsal for the show to assimilate into white culture; however, his Jewish identity comes up in his mind instead being white because observance of the Day of Atonemnent occures at the same time.

His father who is a cantor struggles about his family's heritage as well as Jakie. His father throws his son out of his home because Jakie refuses to be a cantor. To be a cantor is a heritage for his family. When Jakie leaves home, his father says, "We have no son." and he keeps denying Jakie return home. I think that his father may understand Jakie's feeling; however, his father takes his family's, Jewish religion, and heritage rather than loving his son.

Jakie's mother plays a symbolic role in this story. She tunes in to Jakie and tries to explain his feeling to her husband; on the other hand, she wants her son to sing at the Day of Atonemnet. She struggles between her son and husband. Her role represents a conflict between assimilation into whiteness and upholding their Jewish heritage.

At the end of this movie, Jakie sings for the Day of Atonement and his father dies while Jakie is singing. He chooses Jewish heritage; however, Jakie, after the day, goes back to the show. He succeeds in being a jazz singer in white culture. Although the story comes to a happy end, I think that when his father dies, part of the Jewish identity in Jakie's mind also disappears. I believe that in his heart, Jakie will continue facing conflict between being Jewish and white.



American on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. 2nd edition. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009

photo: xroads.virginia.edu/~UG01/hughes/jazz.html

Fuzzy Zoeller vs. Tiger Woods

Zoeller's comments at the Masters: "That little boy is driving well and he's putting well. He's doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it? Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve." (CNN)

The news about Fuzzy Zoeller’s remarks toward Tiger Woods which became a controversy in America. Although he apologized for his comments and Woods accepted his apology, he lost his sponsorship and bowed out of the following golf tour. Zoeller accounted that he just made a joke. Yet people criticized him. When I saw this news, I also got some negative vibes from his remarks because he knew the words he used could be considered as racial terms. Moreover he made remarks at The Mater Tournament, which is one of the four major golf tournaments. I think that saying something racist in such a big event has a great deal of influence because lots of people watch it on TV. He shouldn’t have told an off-color joke, even if he tried to be funny.

However we can’t criticize only Zoeller because Woods also made a joke about African-Americans during the interview for a GQ article. It was a sexually distasteful joke. Woods asked the writer, Dave Anderson, not to write what he said; yet Anderson refused his request. (The New York Times, 1997)
In his article in The New York Times, Anderson compared Zoeller with Wood, and mentioned the difference of making racial jokes between in public appearances and among individuals. Then he argued that Woods needs to apologize as well as Zoeller.

I think that people can make jokes to be funny even off-color jokes if they use the jokes among individual toward people who know each other well and understand those jokes aren’t intended to hurt anyone.
It is difficult to set an obvious line among words. Some of those words are on the line because there is perception gap among people. Their feelings vary according to the situation: who speaks the word, where the word is used, how, and when.
I found complexity surrounding race issue from those two cases. It is so sensitive, especially saying something racial to people.

http://www.cnn.com/US/9704/21/fuzzy/

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/27/sports/tiger-woods-also-needs-to-apologize-for-distasteful-jokes.html?pagewanted=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aWS0StFM5I&feature=player_embedded