Alice Guy-Blaché's Solax one-reeler, "Making an American Citizen" reminds me of the more-recent Borat movies, particularly the sequel, "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" (2020), in that the stereotypical Eastern (Borat from Kazakhstan and the Ivan here presumably from Russia or a likewise once-Soviet state) male chauvinist learns the supposed American way of not abusing women so much. Both were meant to be at least somewhat comedic. This old silent film hardly seems amusing to these modern eyes, but then neither does Borat. The major difference with "Borat," I suppose, is that Sacha Baron Cohen meant to include criticism of American politics (particularly the then-current presidential administrations) along with his mocking of racial others, whereas Guy's film is a full-bodied embrace of the largely-supported policy in the United States at the time of the melting-pot assimilation of immigrants for a homogeneous society.
"Making an American Citizen" is more interesting, though, given that American nickelodeon audiences of the day are reputed to have been largely comprised of recent immigrants, and, indeed, Guy herself had not long ago emigrated from France. Rather than seeing a reflection on screen of themselves or their cultures, such as even a contemporary melodrama, to cite another film I've recently seen, "The Colleen Bawn" (1911), might've done for Irish-Americans, it seems to me that Guy's film would've more likely worked on the level of an Americanized, whether more-recent or long-since immigrated, and Western joke at the expense of the ethnic, yet-to-be-assimilated other. Quite debasing humor in that sense. At every step of the way on Ivan's experiences in the nation of immigrants, his abuse of his wife is counter-forced by an American man violently correcting him in the way of Americanisms, until--even in 1912--three strikes get him a stink on a chain gang.
As Alison McMahan points out (in her book "Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema"), the film's defense of abused women also mostly addresses the male spectator, with brief moments of the wife retaliating offering temporary exceptions. Otherwise, "Making an American Citizen" isn't one of Guy's better-made pictures. The acting here is especially broad and includes some awkward frontal stagings for the camera, which only moves--and hardly ever cuts to another shot within scenes--when the characters clumsily wander out of frame. It's interesting, however, for the subject matter and the historical audience it was intended to address.
