“Far and Away” The storyline is about a lower class man (Joseph) who wanted his own his land. He later met an upper class woman (Shannon) who wanted to escape from the old-fashioned society. They went to America. When they arrived, they faced huge differences between Ireland and America. This movie shows both advantages and disadvantages of immigration.
Joseph was born a farmer’s son. His father had always said to him “without land, man is nothing”, and Joseph decided to have his own land someday. After his father had died, he met Shannon and she told him that his dream will come true in America. America was a wonderful place for Joseph because America gave him everything he wants. He could earn good money as a fighter, wear nice suits, and buy new hats. He had it all whereas in Ireland he had nothing. However, one day he lost a fight and he lost his every wealth. Joseph and Shannon tried hard to find job and place to stay, but they could not. In a scene, one man said he does not hire Irish. In this movie, why the man did not hire Irish was not mentioned. However, in reality, not only Irish but also many immigrants from other countries faced this problem. It happened because of cultural, racial, ethnical, and language differences. In my opinion, it is natural thing because people feel more comfortable when they are in similar or same environment which he or she familiar with than another environment. It is also the employers. They tend to hire a person who has same or similar background as them. Therefore, it is hard for immigrants to find a good job. This movie first showed about 20 years ago and the American society and people’s idea were changed. However, still many immigrants suffer from this disadvantage.
For Shannon, she lost every fortune soon after she got to America and she had to live in a dirty place, and work hard at a processed chicken factory. These were completely different from her home, and the real image of America broke down her good image of America and depressed her. Also, when she was working at the factory, her boss said to her ‘work hard,’ and Shannon took a defiant attitude. Finally, she stopped rebelling against her boss to keep working at the factory. However, it was natural reaction for her because when she was in Ireland, she was a person who gave an order, and was not ordered. In addition, she was born in rich landlord family and was in an upper class. Nobody spoke to her in a rude way. This showed that when you are in new place, your principle does not work anymore and you have to follow the new society principle to live and fit in a new place. This is clearly true because now, many Americans cannot speak the language which was spoken by their ancestors. For example, a person who has roots in Italy cannot speak Italian. Their ancestors who immigrated to America spoke English to fit in the American culture.
In the ending, Joseph got his own land and love of Shannon.
Immigration is significant issue for America. This movie was good to know the history of immigration, however, I believe this is only a part of American immigration history and immigrants had more difficulties to live in America.
I agree with you. I think this movie depicts only a small portion of what immigrants had to go through to come to America. I would like to know how other ethnic groups immigrated and the challenges they faced. I think the Irish, and all immigrants in general, had their challenges but I don't think these challeges were anything compared to other ethnic groups, especially after a few generations.
返信削除I found it interesting when Joseph first called Shannon his sister and his reasoning behind it, he stated that the people in the place they were at didn't like "her kind" and would make her stay there even harder if she didn't go along with it. I can see how being an immigrant in a different country would have its challenges. You arent familiar with the place your in and you dont know where to go to look for jobs and housing. People discriminate againt you because you may have an accent that they dont reconize. We live in a very diverse contry but I'm sure during the time this movie was taking place people weren't sure what to think of the immigrants.
返信削除I agree with you. I think the movie depicted many aspects of the immigrant experince, but also neglected some aspects. One of these was the prejudice and discrimination the immigrants faced. The movie touches on this in the scene where a man refuses to hire Joseph because he is Irish. In reality, prejudice between ethnic groups was a major problem and is still a problem today. I also agree with your statement that immigrants gave up their cultures and languages in order to fit in. Sadly, it was only after they gave up their ethnic cultures that the prejudice against them stopped.
返信削除Marina,
返信削除I especially like the observation you take regarding the ancestry of our own families today and how we all come from ancestors where English was not their first language, and yet here we are generations later, not knowing the language of our ancestors. I have French, Polish, English and Dutch ancestry and yet I don't know anything other than English. Perhaps for our love of a new place we've all lost sight of our pride for our global ancestry. It sure provides for interesting insight into America.
I agree. Movies by their very nature are meant to entertain not really educate. They typically depict things in unrealistic ways that the normal person can’t really associate with. I personally prefer documentaries. While this movie may have some historical basis for what it represents, I believe the reality would have been quite different. I don’t even know that Shannon and Joseph would have survived the boat ride over to the United States at that time, much less survived long enough to make their way to the west. Nor do I think that someone who had been shot at would have been so inclined to heal the perpetrator, especially an aristocratic land owner in Ireland during that time.
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