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The Role Of Immigrants In Animal Crackers And Annie Hall

Decent Essays

The role of the immigrant as an American cultural figure cannot be understated, and the cultural values associated with “immigrant” versus “non-immigrant” Jews in particular are primarily class values. However, even once assimilated and wealthy, upper-class Jews face a difficult situational dichotomy: Whether to join the high-minded literati (a category that Jews helped shape in America) or the more vulgar entrepreneurial class. The anxieties associated with Jewish history complicate this choice, and its consequences are echoed in many films, including Animal Crackers and Annie Hall. Perhaps the dichotomy between the high-minded wealthy Jew and the vulgar wealthy Jew can be most clearly seen by looking at Jack and Harry Warner. As profiled in Gabler’s “Between the Old Life and the New,” Harry Warner was “a devoted family man, lived a quiet life… a stern moralist who would eventually assume the role of moral adjudicator to his entire family.” He was also a more observant Jew, and less religiously assimilated. Jack, meanwhile, was “a veteran provocateur who incited everyone,” regarded as “a frustrated comedian who liked nothing better than telling very bad jokes in a loud voice,” and “seemed to enjoy creating embarrassment.” He also repeatedly refused any religious instruction. In some sense, Jack could be seen as “assimilated” while Harry could be seen as defiantly Jewish. But it would be just as easy to paint the opposite picture: Despite their religious differences, Harry put effort into coming across as a member of high society, while Jack intentionally resisted and even opposed those norms. Harry would often have to apologize for Jack, claiming he “didn’t have the advantages of such a good education.” Here, we see the beginning of the high-minded/vulgar dichotomy that would continue to separate wealthy Jews for the next century. The Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers shows that this trope was already recognized in the culture, and plays with the trope intentionally. When we first see Groucho Marx, he is playing the role of Captain Spaulding, a rich adventurer returned from Africa. It’s never quite clear, in the film, to what extent Groucho is pretending to be Spaulding, and to what extent he actually

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