Abstract
The films Moscow on the Hudson (1984) and The Citizen (2013), stories about immigrants seeking asylum and a better life in America, illustrate the model “Stages of Being Foreign” developed by anthropologist Kalervo Oberg (1901–1973). Oberg, son of Finnish immigrants, was the first researcher to use the now popular term “culture shock.” Director and screenwriter Sam Kadi utilizes aspects of his Syrian immigrant story, and director/screenwriter Paul Mazursky draws upon the experiences of his Ukrainian grandfather. The characters in these films experience a preliminary stage, a spectator stage, an increasing participation stage, the pit of the culture shock stage, and finally the adaptation stage.
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Hassencahl, F. (2021). Stages of Being Foreign as Portrayed in The Citizen and Moscow on the Hudson. In: Banjo, O.O. (eds) Immigrant Generations, Media Representations, and Audiences. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75311-5_2
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