So there is a current trainwreck with associated Pit thread (none of which I feel the need to link to) which was triggered by a claim about how Jews (or in the case of the trainwreck “Jewish controlled media”) portrays Jews. Buried in the codewords (or maybe their veneer, I dunno) was what I think is a reasonable question …
It is pretty much a statement of fact that there is a large representation of Jews in important positions in many areas, and to state that individual Jews have a large influence on what gets presented in the media is a pretty fair statement. Of course these individuals are often of very different mindsets from each other but self-identifying and being raised Jewish in America does have some impact on your cultural perspectives and sensibilities. So does being Mormon or Muslim or Hindu or Hispanic (etc.) in America, albeit different impacts in different cases.
If Jewish writers or directors have characters be specifically identifiable as Jewish are they either consciously or unconsciously trying to present those characters in particular lights? Do they tend to play to stereotypes? Against them? Create them? The claim of the trainwreck trigger that they consciously create a false image of Jews in control is I think untrue, but the question of what images (sometimes contradictory as they may be) they do create, and what impact that has a public stereotype of “Jew” is one worth considering.
IMHO there are different themes and they have changed over the years. Often they play to established stereotypes and thereby reinforce them. Self-depreciation and playing specifically to the neurotic overthinker achetype has been particularly big. And the latter I think is a stereotype that Jewish writers in Hollywood (perhaps especially Woody Allen) are the main source of in American perceptions.
In terms of overall sensibility it’s probably fair to say that since Jews have historically had somewhat liberal political views compared with the overall population, that movies and other forms of entertainment produced/directed/written by Jews may have advanced those views to a somewhat greater degree than movies etc. produced directed by some other ethnic groups.
As to Jewish characters, do they show up more commonly in movies/TV shows than you’d expect because people create characters like themselves and there is a disproportionate percentage* of Jews in the entertainment industry compared to the percentage of Jews in the overall population? Could well be. Are they presented as more or less sympathetic characters than those identified with other ethnic groups? I don’t know. I think you’d have a tough time finding producers/directors/writers of any ethnic group who are especially prone to portraying members of their group in a negative light, or for that matter as superior to those of any other group.
Worthy of note - the most unsympathetic Jewish character in any movie I’ve ever seen was the bookie Bernie Bernbaum (a sleazeball and murderer) in Miller’s Crossing, (produced by the Coen brothers, who are Jewish).
In the end, I’m not particularly interested in combing through lists of Hollywood/entertainment people to find out who comes from where and what their genetic heritage is.
*“disproportionate percentage” being a more accurate term in my opinion than “large” used in the OP.
I was raised fairly traditional and observant, but not Orthodox. My experience is that I can’t relate to Jewish characters on TV shows at all, and rarely to ones in the movies. Occasionally one-off characters for a Hanukkah episode, or something, are OK, but just the fact that they are one-off characters says a lot.
I have sometimes wondered if the common sitcom phenomenon of the shluby husband with the hot wife was the Jewish male assimilation fantasy of finding a blonde shiksa who will fall in love with him. I have no actual evidence, though.
Those are my only thoughts on the subject. Other than that Jewish writers and producers, just like goyish writers and producers, make shows for a mostly goyish audience, and don’t even show Jews all that often, not in control or otherwise.
Matt Stone, one of the co-creators of South Park and also the voice behind the character of Kyle (who is Jewish), is himself of Jewish background. In this case it’s an ethnic identification because his mother is Jewish - Stone himself is apparently not a believer and definitely not Orthodox.
Sarah Silverman is as good as anyone at poking as much fun at her ethnic group as anyone I can think of, and I don’t see her as displaying any self-hatred. She manages to twist the stereotypes just enough to see how they probably feel to the members of the group who let stuff like that affect their thinking at all.
I find that when reading a novel or seeing a movie, characters are often identified as being Jewish, which then requires a certain amount of scenes with references to their rituals or personal habits that relate to their Jewishness. While non-Jewish characters slide through the book or movie without any reference at all to their faith or their practice thereof. I find this to be tiresome and off-putting. This practice seems to be well-established, regardless of whether the author or screenwriter is Jewish.
And honestly don’t particularly care about the “observant” Jews opinions on this in particular. They have no special knowledge about this and heck, by the time you posted it was past sundown already anyway …
I’ve not noticed any particular, persistent representation of Jews, good or bad, in the media. From what I can tell, they’re presented in all manners across the spectrum, and in the end, just come off as regular people. It’s hard to tell if my own opinion is coloring that, but when I think of Jews on television or in movies, and try to think of poor representations, the worst I can come up with is stuff created by self-effacing Jews, the insecure, effete Woody Allen type male or jokes made by Jewish comedians, and at best, sure I can think of successful Jewish characters, but it’s never in any “I’m Jewish, look at me!” context. For the most part, Jewish people are just portrayed as people.
I didn’t read the thread that started all of this, but I did skim the Pit thread, and this “The Jew-controlled media deliberately injects unrealistically positives images of Jews into teevee so they can feel powerful” is just plain stupid.
I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple. It isn’t that Jews inject unrealisticly positive images of Jews, it’s that they inject unrealistically negative images of gentiles.
My cites are:
Scarlett Johansen
Gwyneth Paltrow
Keanu Reeves
All Reality TV shows
I don’t find it tiresome and off-putting, but I have noticed that TV characters are usually a-religious unless they are Jewish. If a character is Jewish, there will be a reference made to Hebrew School, bar mitzvah, Passover seder, etc. There will be at least one scene during a show’s run where someone is wearing a yarmulke. But aside from a very Christmas episode, signs of overt Christianity are usually missing.
Also, prayers that are shown on TV tend to be of the ecumenical variety–for instance, ending in “Amen” rather than “In Jesus’ name, amen.”
I don’t know if Jews are characterized in any particular way by the media, but I do think that their representation would lead one to believe they comprise a larger percentage of the population than they actually do. As a kid, I thought Judaism was so widespread that it was almost as if they were another Christian denomination, like the Episcopalians or the Methodists. But despite growing up in a big cosmopolitan place, there really weren’t that many Jewish people in my life as a kid. I had three Jewish teachers from K-12 *. Throughout elementary school, there was maybe one Jewish kid per grade (not necessarily in my class). In middle and high school, there were maybe three Jewish kids in the entire grade. I had Muslim schoolmates and classmates (particularly when I got to high school and started studying Arabic). But they were invisible in the way that Jewish people weren’t.
But the heightened visibility is not just because of the media. I remember being taught about Hanukkah in school. We could have easily been taught about other religious rituals, but for some reason only two religions were given any attention back in those days. I hope that has changed.
*That I know about, of course. It’s not like everyone waves a flag announcing their religious background. But these teachers weren’t shy.
It’s funny you guys say this because I was 16 goddamn years old (this was late 90s) before I realized that at the time, Jewish people made up a whopping 2 or 3% of the overall American population. I was convinced that statistic was wrong, but I’m certain that’s because I grew up in Los Angeles. I had many Jewish teachers, my best friend from grades 1-3 was a little Jewish boy, our holiday plays at school incorporated both Christmas and Hanukkah. I also worked in a neighborhood where seeing Hasidic Jews walking down the street or at the grocery store was a regular occurrence. I came to learn there are Jewish people in Los Angeles, New York, and Florida - no place else.
I was also shocked to find what a small percentage of the population black people and Latinos were. I knew we were minorities, sure, but not that small. Latinos are like half the population, right? No. Even with the growing population, no. That’s what growing up in Los Angeles will do to you.
I imagine that someone who lives in Bumfuck and who has never met a black person probably thinks that black people are over-represented by the media. And I guess they would be right.
I think the heightened visibility thing is good, but it can also backfire. It’s hard to convey to people that you’re a stigmatized minority when the TV says otherwise. I call it the “Oprah Paradox.”
Given how many TV shows are set in New York City, or in major cities in California, where probably 80% of the US’s Jews actually lives, maybe more, it’s fair to see more Jews on those shows than on shows set some place else. There are lots of episodes of* Law & Order *featuring Jewish characters, albeit, the only thing close to a Jewish detective was Briscoe, whose father was Jewish, but his mother wasn’t (the ex-wife who was the mother of his children apparently was, though, because his daughter had a Jewish funeral). There was never a Jewish lawyer on the prosecuting team, either-- lots of Jewish defense lawyers, though, including a couple of recurring characters. I’ve lived in Manhattan, and Law & Order felt about right, albeit, as a Jew, I probably am more aware of Jews wherever I go.
I don’t think there was ever a Jew on The Andy Griffith Show, though. I haven’t seen every episode, but it was set in something like a small town in NC, so that seemed about right. “This town is Jew-free.”
Drawn Together is essentially a cartoon reality show. Its real creators have a shared page on Wikipedia, of which the very last text line is “They are Jewish.” The in-universe show is run by “the Jew Producer,” who is also kind of a dick.
