"There are no cats in America"

Last week at work I watched American Tale. I notice that many parts of the movie were historically sound. This clip above show a few of the main points.

1. Fievel's family is leaving Russia: Many people left Russia and Eastern Europe during this time and many of those people were Jewish ( its does not say that Fievel's family is Jewish, but they could be)

2. In the song two other groups sing: In the song both Italian and Irish mice sing as well. This to is very historically correct, as these to groups were two of the largest that came to America in the late 19th century

3. The idealized America: In the song America is very idealized. The words "There are no cats in America" reflect the idea that problems of the old Word will not be found in the new one. Early in the film "The Cats" are dressed like aristocrats or "Fat Cats". This idealization of America would not be what most immigrants would experience.

There are many other interesting historical points in this film including the changing of Eastern Europe names into Anglo names like "Smith"

This film shows the power of fictional works to give insight and to tell the story of non-fictional events.