Jack Robin’s veritability towards his actions in the final act of the film shouldn’t really be up to question. The film’s narrative sets-up his character as the archetypal kind-hearted, romantic dreamer. And, Jack never displays any sense of resentment towards his father, “The Cantor”. In fact, the absence of any bitterness Jack has towards his father is the film’s subtle accomplishment at building the protagonist’s character arc - from childhood disobedience into mature adulthood. After years of being away from his family, he’s come to appreciate them, and even miss them enough to make amends. Throughout the film, Jack Robin’s struggle in putting his family’s values behind his dreams become one of the conflicts that Jack wrestles with. The film continues to examines Jack’s growth as an American, filled with “modern” ideals of prospering as a Jazz singer, yet realizing how much his parent’s culture is very much his own. Jack realizes, at the end, that he can live a life with these two identities, in union of each other. The protagonist’s statement on what he deems “more important than anything else, merely coincides with the the character’s struggle to look past his naive desires. The Cantor’s disdain for popular culture is reminiscent of Reb Smilinky’s opposition to American values, in Bread Givers. They both are men of the Torah, and put almost all of their energy in practicing their religion. Similarly, the mother characters of both “The Jazz Singer” and Bread Givers play the role of the supportive -yet submissive- Wife. While Bread Giver’s Mother character, Shenah, is driven mad by her Husband’s ineptitude as a supportive spouse, both her and Jack’s Mother serve as the more understanding parent, towards their children’s actions and aspirations. And, although both these women do not fully agree, or understand the new customs their offspring have adopted, they’re aware that they themselves are no longer in authority to command their children’s life decisions.
Jack Robin's narrative demonstrates that one can walk the thin line between identity and obligation without conforming to the pressures of social, religious and domestic etiquette. The Jazz Singer rejects the typical "follow in your father's footsteps" notion that is widely recognized as the traditional immigrant story and favors the individualized and often radical “break away from family tradition” experience. Robins' decision to take his father, Cantor Rabinowitz's place and sing the sacred Kol Nidre for Yom Kippur, reveals there isn't any animosity between the pair. Robin's character struggles with accessing his identity as a Jazz entertainer and balancing it with his heritage. Even after years of bad blood between Robin and Rabinowitz, Robin's kin sick ness hits him extremely hard especially when he hears the news of his father's ill ness. Robin battles with his duty to his family and faith, but his strong relationship with his mother ultimately inspires him to take the initiative to reconcile with his father. Robin runs away from home to find himself in the world and at the last minute realizes how salient it is to settle differences between him and his pious father. Robin finally sews up their relationship, when Rabinowitz utters his last words and dies, as his soul subsequently appears beside his son. Robin’s actions expose his belief that family trumps career opportunity and the performance near his father's bed side display his loyalty and love for his family. In the end, Robins gains internal freedom and reaches external peace.
It is too simplistic to say that Jack comes back home out of guilt for not being the kind of son his father wanted or disagreeing with the future The Cantor wanted for him. However, Jack's return is not guiltless. Jack does not apologize for his desire to be a jazz singer. Jack mentions on the cusps of his big break that he has a "calling" or an "ache" in his heart for something more than just performing. His mother's pleading sparks Jack's own desire to return to his roots. It is only when he is vulnerable and hidden beneath the mask does he allow himself the room to feel his longing and some guilt, pushing his return home. Much of Jack's struggle throughout the film is between striving in his career or giving in to what his father wants for him. Jack, selfishly in most of film puts his career first, however, he does return in an attempt to patch things up with his family. It is with his father's blatant rejection of who he is and what he wants that drives Jack to continue to put his career first. The conflict isn't just between father and son, it is between obligation and freedom, old world and new world, who Jack is and who his father wants him to be. Despite all of the strife, Jack realizes that his father and his family are more important than proving his father wrong. He understands at the end of the film that his motivation to be a jazz singer stems partly from his love of the music and partly from needing to show his father who he is and have the Cantor accept that. Jack's return and missing his chance to be a star proves he has matured and understands his fathers stubbornness. It was more important for Jack to reconnect with his father than to prove him wrong. It is very clear for most of the film that Jack's mother just wants to see him happy and she is very supportive in his pursuit of being a jazz singer. His father, on the other hand, makes it extremely clear how upset he is by the whole idea of singing for something other than for religious purposes. The Cantor's incentive to make Jack a Cantor is due to his belief that Jack's talent should be used for something bigger than secular purposes. To him, there is nothing more important or more sacred than that. The Cantor's rejection of Jack's desires has more to do with a father's disappointment in the wasted potential of his son. Rather than not understanding what Jack wants he feels that his reasons are immature, heathenish and selfish. The Cantor wants what's best for his son, he just doesn't believe that being a jazz singer is the answer.
Jackie returning to sing in his father’s place transcends a single factor. Although guilt was definitely involved, the determining element, I believe, is Jackie’s love and affection for his mother. The need for his mother to be happy cultivates his guilt; he feels guilty for disappointing her and not upholding his duties. The film’s emphasis on Jackie’s strong affection for his mother indicates that his decision at the end of the film is more directly related to her rather than simply feelings of guilt. Jackie’s statement, “It’s a choice between giving up the biggest chance of my life and breaking my mother’s heart”, is interesting because it implies that his struggle is between choosing his career or his mother. If he had mentioned his community/people instead of his mother, then it would have been safe to assume that his return would have been out of guilt of letting his people down. However, by mentioning his mother specifically, it confirms that he ultimately returned because of the inability to disappoint her.
Jackie's statement of prioritizing his career above everything else is definitely one that has been contested in the movie as well, particularly when Mary asks if he had been lying when he stated that. Essentially, the film displays the struggle between balancing two ways of life that seem antithetical to one another. It shows that choosing your top priority is complex and not static. Perhaps Jackie truly meant his statement when he first said it. However, as the film progressed, Jackie was presented with challenges and events that swayed his decision. Ultimately, we see that the lingering doubt overpowered at the end. By choosing to return to sing in his father’s place, he demonstrates that his career, at that moment, ranked second.
Understanding entails empathy. It seems that Jackie’s parent’s are not able to comprehend his desire to pursue his career. Jackie’s mother accepts and supports her son, even if she cannot understand his feelings. Her desire for her son to be happy and thriving overpowers the need to understand him. Jackie’s father’s unwavering, vehement opposition to his Jazz singing career indicates that he doesn’t truly understand Jackie. Although both parents don’t understand Jackie’s desires, each one reacts differently; the mother supports him out of love, while the father continues to reject it completely.
Jakie’s decision to sing in his father’s place is a mix of other factors rather than out of guilt. I believe guilt has a part in the decision, as any child would consider fulfilling their parents’ last wishes. Being the child of immigrants is difficult for the child and the parents. The child grows up and is surrounded by dominant American culture, while at home, they live in the culture the parents have brought from their mother country. For the child, it becomes a predicament to live up to the expectations of parents, to diverge from those expectations, or to blend in both. This dichotomy of both cultures may seep into major career, relationship, and living decisions. I believe at one point, Jakie’s career was more important than anything else. Jakie’s fathers’ strict expectations pushed him to choose family or a career. His career allowed him to be himself and achieve autonomy. He is immersed in his career to point where covers the problems he has with his father.
Jack Robin comes from a traditional Jewish family but he has the heart of a "Jazz Singer" for this reason his decision of singing in his father's place has some factors. Guilt is not part of his decision because Jack during that period of his life already was doing what he loves to do. He choose to sing in his place because first He value from where he comes from, he loved his people and culture and also because for the love he had for his parents. Jack wanted to fulfill his father's desire for him to sing in the synagogue and his mother was happy for his decision. At first when I was watching this part of this musical film, I didn't know that Jack was going to do, but when I saw him singing in the synagogue I realized he desired his family to be happy and united and at the same time to live his job has "Jazz Singer" as a dream come true. During the musical Jack Robin made clear that his career was the most important time in his life. He was all the time rehearsing, practicing ect. Ms. Mary always remind Jack how important was his career for him. When a friend for the family told him to come back home because his father was sick, his answer was that he was not going back . But despite all of this by his actions he wanted his mother to listen to him in the synagogue and to live with him his dream of "Jazz Singer" Jack loved his family and they're are the most important people in his life (Family.) Jack Robin's parents don't understand his desire of been "Jazz singer" because his parents were focusing in their cultural belief especially his father. It was not normal as parent to see a son dedicated in the Jewish's culture with love to the "Jazz Singer." Jack parents understood then finally in the musical that Jack needed to do what was in his heart and not do something that later that Jack don't feel to do. Jack's mothers understand this true when finally she saw her son singing for her in the theater recognizing that he is a "Jazz Singer."
I think guilt had very little to do with Jack’s reasoning for coming back to sing in his father’s place. I feel like Jack has always had a strong connection to his Jewish cultural upbringing even with his decision to pursue a career as a jazz singer, those experiences shaped and molded who’d he become as an adult. Jack never rejects or demonizes his culture, the issue was his parents feeling his love of jazz music was wrong and sinful. I think Jack has always longed for a balance, a way to do both of the things he loves and hold dear to his heart, and his parents particularly his father has prevented that balance. So his decision to sing in his father’s place was rooted less in guilt and more in a genuine longing bridge the two worlds that were so dear to him.
Jack wasn’t being honest in my opinion when he stated that his career was “more important than anything else” The entire film is centered around Jack’s struggles with embracing the new free and exciting world of American jazz and trying to negotiate that love with his traditional Jewish upbringing. By the end of the film with Jack singing in his father’s place and then returning to perform jazz with his mother in the audience shows how Jack wanted bridge the two worlds not reject one of them. The bridging of the two worlds also representing in the films the freedoms afforded by an upbringing in America.
Jack’s parents do understand his wants and desires to perform Jazz, they just reject them, particularly his father. Coming from a very traditionally conservative religious background Jack’s father wants for him to follow in his footsteps and become a cantor. But Jack doesn’t want to be a cantor, he want to perform jazz music and this is where the conflict lies because jazz music is non-secular music.
Jack Robin’s veritability towards his actions in the final act of the film shouldn’t really be up to question. The film’s narrative sets-up his character as the archetypal kind-hearted, romantic dreamer. And, Jack never displays any sense of resentment towards his father, “The Cantor”. In fact, the absence of any bitterness Jack has towards his father is the film’s subtle accomplishment at building the protagonist’s character arc - from childhood disobedience into mature adulthood. After years of being away from his family, he’s come to appreciate them, and even miss them enough to make amends.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the film, Jack Robin’s struggle in putting his family’s values behind his dreams become one of the conflicts that Jack wrestles with. The film continues to examines Jack’s growth as an American, filled with “modern” ideals of prospering as a Jazz singer, yet realizing how much his parent’s culture is very much his own. Jack realizes, at the end, that he can live a life with these two identities, in union of each other. The protagonist’s statement on what he deems “more important than anything else, merely coincides with the the character’s struggle to look past his naive desires.
The Cantor’s disdain for popular culture is reminiscent of Reb Smilinky’s opposition to American values, in Bread Givers. They both are men of the Torah, and put almost all of their energy in practicing their religion. Similarly, the mother characters of both “The Jazz Singer” and Bread Givers play the role of the supportive -yet submissive- Wife. While Bread Giver’s Mother character, Shenah, is driven mad by her Husband’s ineptitude as a supportive spouse, both her and Jack’s Mother serve as the more understanding parent, towards their children’s actions and aspirations. And, although both these women do not fully agree, or understand the new customs their offspring have adopted, they’re aware that they themselves are no longer in authority to command their children’s life decisions.
Jack Robin's narrative demonstrates that one can walk the thin line between identity and obligation without conforming to the pressures of social, religious and domestic etiquette. The Jazz Singer rejects the typical "follow in your father's footsteps" notion that is widely recognized as the traditional immigrant story and favors the individualized and often radical “break away from family tradition” experience. Robins' decision to take his father, Cantor Rabinowitz's place and sing the sacred Kol Nidre for Yom Kippur, reveals there isn't any animosity between the pair. Robin's character struggles with accessing his identity as a Jazz entertainer and balancing it with his heritage. Even after years of bad blood between Robin and Rabinowitz, Robin's kin sick ness hits him extremely hard especially when he hears the news of his father's ill ness. Robin battles with his duty to his family and faith, but his strong relationship with his mother ultimately inspires him to take the initiative to reconcile with his father. Robin runs away from home to find himself in the world and at the last minute realizes how salient it is to settle differences between him and his pious father. Robin finally sews up their relationship, when Rabinowitz utters his last words and dies, as his soul subsequently appears beside his son. Robin’s actions expose his belief that family trumps career opportunity and the performance near his father's bed side display his loyalty and love for his family. In the end, Robins gains internal freedom and reaches external peace.
ReplyDeleteIt is too simplistic to say that Jack comes back home out of guilt for not being the kind of son his father wanted or disagreeing with the future The Cantor wanted for him. However, Jack's return is not guiltless. Jack does not apologize for his desire to be a jazz singer. Jack mentions on the cusps of his big break that he has a "calling" or an "ache" in his heart for something more than just performing. His mother's pleading sparks Jack's own desire to return to his roots. It is only when he is vulnerable and hidden beneath the mask does he allow himself the room to feel his longing and some guilt, pushing his return home.
ReplyDeleteMuch of Jack's struggle throughout the film is between striving in his career or giving in to what his father wants for him. Jack, selfishly in most of film puts his career first, however, he does return in an attempt to patch things up with his family. It is with his father's blatant rejection of who he is and what he wants that drives Jack to continue to put his career first. The conflict isn't just between father and son, it is between obligation and freedom, old world and new world, who Jack is and who his father wants him to be. Despite all of the strife, Jack realizes that his father and his family are more important than proving his father wrong. He understands at the end of the film that his motivation to be a jazz singer stems partly from his love of the music and partly from needing to show his father who he is and have the Cantor accept that. Jack's return and missing his chance to be a star proves he has matured and understands his fathers stubbornness. It was more important for Jack to reconnect with his father than to prove him wrong.
It is very clear for most of the film that Jack's mother just wants to see him happy and she is very supportive in his pursuit of being a jazz singer. His father, on the other hand, makes it extremely clear how upset he is by the whole idea of singing for something other than for religious purposes. The Cantor's incentive to make Jack a Cantor is due to his belief that Jack's talent should be used for something bigger than secular purposes. To him, there is nothing more important or more sacred than that. The Cantor's rejection of Jack's desires has more to do with a father's disappointment in the wasted potential of his son. Rather than not understanding what Jack wants he feels that his reasons are immature, heathenish and selfish. The Cantor wants what's best for his son, he just doesn't believe that being a jazz singer is the answer.
Jackie returning to sing in his father’s place transcends a single factor. Although guilt was definitely involved, the determining element, I believe, is Jackie’s love and affection for his mother. The need for his mother to be happy cultivates his guilt; he feels guilty for disappointing her and not upholding his duties. The film’s emphasis on Jackie’s strong affection for his mother indicates that his decision at the end of the film is more directly related to her rather than simply feelings of guilt. Jackie’s statement, “It’s a choice between giving up the biggest chance of my life and breaking my mother’s heart”, is interesting because it implies that his struggle is between choosing his career or his mother. If he had mentioned his community/people instead of his mother, then it would have been safe to assume that his return would have been out of guilt of letting his people down. However, by mentioning his mother specifically, it confirms that he ultimately returned because of the inability to disappoint her.
ReplyDeleteJackie's statement of prioritizing his career above everything else is definitely one that has been contested in the movie as well, particularly when Mary asks if he had been lying when he stated that. Essentially, the film displays the struggle between balancing two ways of life that seem antithetical to one another. It shows that choosing your top priority is complex and not static. Perhaps Jackie truly meant his statement when he first said it. However, as the film progressed, Jackie was presented with challenges and events that swayed his decision. Ultimately, we see that the lingering doubt overpowered at the end. By choosing to return to sing in his father’s place, he demonstrates that his career, at that moment, ranked second.
Understanding entails empathy. It seems that Jackie’s parent’s are not able to comprehend his desire to pursue his career. Jackie’s mother accepts and supports her son, even if she cannot understand his feelings. Her desire for her son to be happy and thriving overpowers the need to understand him. Jackie’s father’s unwavering, vehement opposition to his Jazz singing career indicates that he doesn’t truly understand Jackie. Although both parents don’t understand Jackie’s desires, each one reacts differently; the mother supports him out of love, while the father continues to reject it completely.
Jakie’s decision to sing in his father’s place is a mix of other factors rather than out of guilt. I believe guilt has a part in the decision, as any child would consider fulfilling their parents’ last wishes. Being the child of immigrants is difficult for the child and the parents. The child grows up and is surrounded by dominant American culture, while at home, they live in the culture the parents have brought from their mother country. For the child, it becomes a predicament to live up to the expectations of parents, to diverge from those expectations, or to blend in both. This dichotomy of both cultures may seep into major career, relationship, and living decisions.
ReplyDeleteI believe at one point, Jakie’s career was more important than anything else. Jakie’s fathers’ strict expectations pushed him to choose family or a career. His career allowed him to be himself and achieve autonomy. He is immersed in his career to point where covers the problems he has with his father.
Jack Robin comes from a traditional Jewish family but he has the heart of a "Jazz Singer" for this reason his decision of singing in his father's place has some factors. Guilt is not part of his decision because Jack during that period of his life already was doing what he loves to do. He choose to sing in his place because first He value from where he comes from, he loved his people and culture and also because for the love he had for his parents. Jack wanted to fulfill his father's desire for him to sing in the synagogue and his mother was happy for his decision. At first when I was watching this part of this musical film, I didn't know that Jack was going to do, but when I saw him singing in the synagogue I realized he desired his family to be happy and united and at the same time to live his job has "Jazz Singer" as a dream come true.
ReplyDeleteDuring the musical Jack Robin made clear that his career was the most important time in his life. He was all the time rehearsing, practicing ect. Ms. Mary always remind Jack how important was his career for him. When a friend for the family told him to come back home because his father was sick, his answer was that he was not going back . But despite all of this by his actions he wanted his mother to listen to him in the synagogue and to live with him his dream of "Jazz Singer" Jack loved his family and they're are the most important people in his life (Family.)
Jack Robin's parents don't understand his desire of been "Jazz singer" because his parents were focusing in their cultural belief especially his father. It was not normal as parent to see a son dedicated in the Jewish's culture with love to the "Jazz Singer." Jack parents understood then finally in the musical that Jack needed to do what was in his heart and not do something that later that Jack don't feel to do. Jack's mothers understand this true when finally she saw her son singing for her in the theater recognizing that he is a "Jazz Singer."
I think guilt had very little to do with Jack’s reasoning for coming back to sing in his father’s place. I feel like Jack has always had a strong connection to his Jewish cultural upbringing even with his decision to pursue a career as a jazz singer, those experiences shaped and molded who’d he become as an adult. Jack never rejects or demonizes his culture, the issue was his parents feeling his love of jazz music was wrong and sinful. I think Jack has always longed for a balance, a way to do both of the things he loves and hold dear to his heart, and his parents particularly his father has prevented that balance. So his decision to sing in his father’s place was rooted less in guilt and more in a genuine longing bridge the two worlds that were so dear to him.
ReplyDeleteJack wasn’t being honest in my opinion when he stated that his career was “more important than anything else” The entire film is centered around Jack’s struggles with embracing the new free and exciting world of American jazz and trying to negotiate that love with his traditional Jewish upbringing. By the end of the film with Jack singing in his father’s place and then returning to perform jazz with his mother in the audience shows how Jack wanted bridge the two worlds not reject one of them. The bridging of the two worlds also representing in the films the freedoms afforded by an upbringing in America.
Jack’s parents do understand his wants and desires to perform Jazz, they just reject them, particularly his father. Coming from a very traditionally conservative religious background Jack’s father wants for him to follow in his footsteps and become a cantor. But Jack doesn’t want to be a cantor, he want to perform jazz music and this is where the conflict lies because jazz music is non-secular music.