The Jewish Identity In The United States In 20th Century From Hollywood Movies

This paper takes American Jews as the subject of research,combines the historical process of Jewish immigration to America,their survival and development in America,and the relevant theories of ethnic assimilation,and takes movies as the text to analyze the changing process of Jewish identity in America in the 20th century.Jews,one of the minorities in America,have achieved amazing achievements in all aspects of American social life in only two or three generations.They have developed and expanded the American film industry and take a significant position in it.This paper mainly selects s several movies related to Jewish identity after the birth of sound motion pictures to study the Jewish experience in America in the 20th century and the changing process of Jewish identity.The thesis is divided into three parts:introduction,body and conclusion.The introduction part elaborates the reasons and significance of the topic selection,as well as the research status of relevant content at home and abroad.The body of the thesis is divided into three chapters.In the first chapter,in the early 20th century,the Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe came to America and survived hardly.Under the background that the environment encouraged the Jews to assimilate themselves and integrate into the United States,the author analyzed the successful assimilation focused by the early Jews in the movies,and thoughts about the contradiction between tradition and assimilation in the process.In the second chapter,from 1930s to 1960s,the Jewish characters disappeared from the screen and reappeared due to the influence of anti-Semitism and World War II.The main purpose of this chapter is to investigate the psychological changes of Jews from caution to bold expression under such experience.In the third chapter,since the 1970s,Jews realized that their differences could not be eliminated,but they were no longer afraid of it.They gradually faced up to and accepted their dual identity and integration into America.This part concentrated on how Hollywood movies witnessed this change.In the concluding part,the author reviews the past and summarizes the body of the paper,and sums up the two dual identity models that Jews have explored in America.