What "Jazz Singer" depicts is the alternation of the old and new generations at two levels. On the surface, it is depicting the assimilation advocated by American society and the contradictions that followed. That is, the protagonist has been assimilated by the mainstream of the United States to become a jazz singer, and the old national tradition symbolized by his father can only be eliminated by the times. This is social assimilation. cost. But as the first set of sound films, the generational alternation of the old and new movies it symbolizes is more obvious. When everyone concentrated on watching Al Jolson’s shocked synchronic dialogue between heaven and man, his father came in quietly through the door. The door and the curtain beside it formed the old stage (or big screen), and the father in "ancient costume" walked in. The son was forbidden to sing jazz music, which is the accusation of "silent film" against "sound film". Then the three people looked at each other silently. At that moment, the movie returned to silent film.
Just as the Jewish rabbi could not accept their son’s trendy music, many people at that time could not accept the sound film, thinking that it was the art of stifling the film, because the sound film made the images more picturesque, and also completely changed the actors’ requirements for acting. The visual language of movies. After all, the torrent of the new generation will eventually eliminate the old technology, and the old things can only disappear in silence.
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