Film 301/314 Mid-term

America is the most diverse country in the world. Its citizens can trace their origins back from all corners of the globe. Yet despite being built by slaves and immigrants, the popularized idea of American culture has become synonymous with white, capitalist ideals. As time has progressed, descendants of slaves and immigrants have struggled to find a place and assimilate themselves into American society. Martin Scorsese, a third generation Italian-American, and Spike Lee, a second generation African-American urban northerner, are two directors that document the trials of their specific culture in American society. The characters in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets and Spike Lee’s Joe’s Bed Stuy Barbershop had to deal with segregated neighborhoods, pressures from their family and peers, as well as financial hardships when trying to assimilate more completely into American society.

Segregation, whether de jure or de facto, has always been found in American society. Separations between people of different races or ethnicities can still been seen across the United States today, and is prevalent because of exclusionary reality practices, income gaps, as well as because of feelings of comfort and closeness among members of shared cultural groups. The latter can bee seen as the reason for the segregation of the Italian-American characters in Scorsese’s Mean Streets. Although on occasion the characters interact with people from outside their community, they live and spend most of their time among other Italian-Americans in their community. This segregation, although it may have once been a matter of survival, now seems to be a choice that the characters embrace, as seen in this clip with Charlie, his uncle, and associates at an Italian-American restaurant. Although Charlie could have gone on to college or got a career, he chooses to stay in his community to try to become a gangster. This segregation of themselves prevents the characters further assimilation into American popular culture because it separates them from participating in American life outside their community.

The segregation of the characters’ community in Lee’s Joe’s Bed Stuy Barbershop while in some way may be attributed to a close-knit community; it is more likely from reasons of exclusion and finances. Whatever the reason for segregation, the characters in Joe’s Bed Stuy Barbershop have difficulty as well assimilating into the popularized idea of American society because of their separation. Houston Baker in his article entitled “Spike Lee and the Commerce of Culture” refers to the setting of the movie as taking place “in a deteriorating, black-urban world that seems entirely removed from a dominant white culture” (p. 3). He goes on to say the film is hermetic. As with Mean Streets, this separation prevents the characters in Joe’s Bed Stuy Barbershop from interacting with and assimilating into the rest of American society.

Another challenge to assimilation for the characters in these movies came from the pressures they faced from their family and peers. In Mean Streets these pressures seemed to encourage maintaining the status quo. Charlie is interested in dating Diane a Black dancer from Tony’s bar. However, as Robert Casillo points out in his book Gangster Priest , “to do so risks disaster, as he would be betraying … the values of his community. He would also disgrace himself before his uncle and lose the restaurant he dreams of” (p. 202). Teresa is also shown as wanting to leave the confines of the community, but is resistant because she does not have the approval of her family. In this clip, Teresa is talking again with Charlie about moving up town. Although this shot takes place on the beach, away from the claustrophobia of their community, both Teresa and Charlie are still hesitant to go against the desires of their family and peers.

The character of Zach in Joe’s Bed Stuy Barbershop also faces pressure from his family and peers when trying to assimilate into American society. Zach is trying to make it on his own as a businessman and stick to his ideals, a trait highly valued in American society. However, pressure from his wife Ruth to make money and move out of Bed Stuy challenge Zach’s attempt to assimilate. Houston Baker echoes the significance of the pressure Zach faces when he says, “it is finally a combination… of her [Ruth’s] desire for money and the South (along with Lovejoy’s violent insistence) that forces Zach to give up his idealism and enter the numbers game” (p.5). These pressures on Zach from Ruth and Lovejoy turned out to be a large barrier to Zach’s attempt to further assimilate into American society.

Finally, an obstacle when trying to assimilate into mainstream society faced by many descendants of slaves, immigrants and even lower class white Americans is financial hardship. In Scorsese’s Mean Streets the character of Johnny Boy most accurately illustrates this. Johnny Boy is the most marginalized and dispensable member of his group, not only because of his behavior, but because of his money problems as well. He continually goes deeper and deeper into debt without any hope of getting out of it. He had a job but it did not pay enough to get him out of debt. Johnny Boy’s financial situation makes it hard for him to fit into his own enclave, let alone the rest of mainstream American society. This clip shows Johnny Boy ducking behind a car to hide from his debtor. The scene illustrates his failure in the American capitalist system and shows how it isolates him from the rest of the community and larger society.

Zach also faces financial hardships in Joe’s Bed Stuy Barbershop. Zach’s refusal to do chemical hair treatments or run numbers at his barbershop has left him without any customers. However, because of an attack on Ruth, Zach “faces a dilemma: should he acquiesce or make a stand” when it comes to running numbers as Kaleen Aftab puts it in Spike Lee: That’s my Story and I’m Sticking to it. The challenges Zach faced due to his money problems forced him to turn to illegal activities, furthering himself from assimilating into mainstream American society.

Martin Scrosese’s and Spike Lee’s distinct cultural backgrounds as a third generation Italian-American and a second generation Black urban northerner offer great insight to the trials of their communities when trying to assimilate into mainstream (or white, middle class, capitalistic) American society. The characters in Mean Streets and Joe’s Bed Stuy Barbershop were faced with many obstacles when trying to assimilate, including: segregated communities, family and peer pressures, and financial hardships. However, beyond pointing out these challenges to fitting in, Scorsese and Lee through the characters in their movies, grapple with the question of whether or not assimilation into the mainstream is even a goal for the members of their culture.