Avalon review
Part 1
Avalon is a movie about a family history of Barry Levinson, who followed the immigrant Krichinsky clan as they purposed to settle in Baltimore, and this was during the 20th century. The family decided to accompany themselves with the most of their traditions which included, a powerful family network which had been seen in the past generation of the family. They lived under one roof because this provided the opportunity for the family to make vital decisions about their extended family through the use of consensus. During the mid 20th century, the second and the third generation of the family who was on the American side decided that it is wise enough to start looking for their ideal concerning the American dream, such as assimilation of the culture of America. This is seen to be displayed through the Anglicization concerning the family name to be Kaye. They also wanted to succeed and prosper by having developed business according to the choice of an individual in the family. Building houses in the suburbs with as a family and having a television. Some of these dreams by the second and the third generation were considered to be against the culture of the old generation. That led to cause friction in the family, especially when making vital decisions during the family meetings because the family has to grow and move on. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
In the movie Avalon, we realize that Levinson was inspired by the kind of family he had because his grandparents went to America when they came from Russia. They were pooling resources to ensure that each of their relatives went to America, and this happened until the five brothers of Krichinsky were able to have a place to settle on in Baltimore. They used to be musicians, especially they were playing the violin, and mostly they were hired during the weekends, and when it comes to the weekdays, they were operating a family business of hanging papers on the wall. The family was working hard in order to be able to raise a large family, and the extended family used to be the center of their social life. They were staying close to one another, and they used to have family councils, and in most cases, they bring together money to help in charitable works. One of the essential aspects of this family is that they were glowing ambitions for their children.
Some of the family members were able to succeed materially quickly, Issy and Jules who are known as Kevin Pollak and Quinn who are the two cousins in the second generation in the family decided to Americanize their names primarily the surnames to be Kaya and Kirk, and they came up with an appliance store which they decided to use TV to make advertisement in order to be able to have customers and at last they were able to have a big warehouse which was the first discount store department established in Baltimore. Avalon was a happy family because they were able to join hands together and live as one big family, but as time was moving, it started becoming a very sad family, and we realize that the last sequence of the family was heartbreaking. This shows how the modern families that we have are able to tear apart and lose the roots of the past families and live old people of the family to be lonely. The movie of Avalon helps us to understand how the close and warm extended families can be ruined by isolation and alienation.
Part 2
One of the most important aspects that we have learned from the movie in connection with what we have learned from the material in class is that migration includes two types of groups. The first group being getting assimilated because of the rejection and some of the challenges that they are facing, and this makes them be able to take the identity of the Americans (Fortier, 2014). For example, we have seen that from the family of the Avalon, the second and the third generation decided to leave the roots of the family and started to embrace what the Americans were doing because they wanted to fit and avoid discriminations that may come as a result of being immigrants. The other group of immigrants is those that stick to their culture and finds it difficult to leave their cultures, such as the native language and some of the critical traditions. For example, from the movie, the first generation of the family was not ready to bend low in order to lose their culture because they valued their culture most and felt that that should be the norm for the entire generations to come.
The class material which is connected to the movie talks about the migration and the race in the advanced western societies. Most of the immigrants face racial discrimination based on their language, skin color, and ethnicity, and in some extreme cases, immigrants can be denied the opportunity to carry out any business and even share resources with the other people. This makes life miserable to the immigrants, and that is the reason that pushes most of them to get assimilated fully so that at the end of the day, they are able to have the freedom to do what the citizens of that country are doing. From the movie that we have watched, the second and the third generation were able to embrace the culture of the Americans in order to ensure that they are able to fit in America’s society and carry out business together with them. Some factors are affecting immigrants; these factors include gender, class, and regional resources and destination (Song, 2013).
Gender is one of the factors that is affecting the immigrants because the initial generation may have a culture that bars women from participating in a given activity, but when the second generation comes, they have to fully embrace some of the activities which they have been traditionally barred from participating into. Class is also one of the factors that are affecting immigrants because they might be viewed and grouped in a certain social class, which cannot provide them with enough opportunity to participate in most of the income-generating activities. For example in the movie, we realize that the first generation was tied to their traditional culture while the second generation and the third generation was able to embrace the some of the economic activities such as establishing a business in order to ensure that they can also fit in most of the social groups within America. This even makes them to Americanize their surnames so that they can be embraced in the business Class of America.
Resources and destinations are also another factors that affect most of the immigrants because they can be restricted from accessing resources, and this makes life difficult for them to succeed. Alongside these factors, some factors are contributing to immigrant discrimination, such as religion and marriage (Song, 2019). It becomes difficult for most of the immigrants to be accepted in terms of marriage because of the differences in culture and therefore, most of the immigrants face rejection to be allowed to marry since of the difference in skin color and ethnicity. From the movie, one crucial aspect that we learned is that due to the use of technological improvement like the introduction of the TV has made it possible for some of the immigrants to embrace a different culture which is far from their cultures and fully become assimilated.
Part 3
From the movie, what I came to like most was the way the family of Levinson was united initially because they use to work to gather as a family and ensure that each member of the family is fully embraced during the family meeting. This made this family remain focused on their culture for a reasonable period. It shows how families should be united and joins hands together for their personal development; the family became grate because of oneness and the strong tire that was established by the first generation of the family. They were even able to raise money in order to support the needy families, and this shows how the family seemed to be in unity and lived with one accord to achieve their goals within the family for a long period.
One of the most embarrassing aspects of this movie is when; the second generation came into the picture and decided to set a parallel goal as compared to the initial purpose of the family. This is because they embraced the western culture, and some of the family members decided to take the initiative of changing their surnames from that of the family to American names. This brought embarrassing moments to the family because it shows disloyalty to the family rules and regulations. One of the aspects that contributed the second generation to get involved fully into the Culture of the Americans is because they wanted to have personal gain and fit into the Class of the Americans in order to achieve their goals, for instance, the having the first discount store in Baltimore(Song, 2013). It might be very difficult to survive as immigrant without getting assimilated to the culture of the new country because one may not be able to achieve many of his or her goals, but it is also essential that the traditions should be maintained in the family because one thing I realized that isolation and alienation are dangerous to the family unity and it makes of the family members to separate.
References
| Fortier, A. M. (2014). Migration studies. The Routledge handbook of mobilities (pp. 84-93). Routledge. |
Song, M. (2013). The changing configuration of migration and race. In Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies (pp. 184-194). Routledge.
Song, M. (2019). The changing configuration of migration and race. In Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies (pp. 201-211). Routledge.