Dude, he uses a Mac, how badass could he possibly be? :rolleyes:
Although he DID punch the President. 
I think it’s the tail wagging the dog. Most movie characters don’t have their religion specified. But some people assume that if they aren’t acting stereotypically Jewish then they must not be Jewish. So people see a typical action hero and assume they’re not Jewish. But who knows? Maybe McClane and Riddick and Han Solo and Mad Max were all Jewish.
Are you claiming that a Mac is the less cool alternative. 
Judaism is more than a religion, like I said before. It’s a culture. Whether or not someone is implicitly Jewish can depend on something as simple as a name. Give a character a Jewish name, and we can assume he’s Jewish. Give him a Gentile name, and we can assume he isn’t. Give him an Italian name, and we assume he’s Italian, too, with all the implications that come along with that (Catholic, tough guy, possibly connected to the mafia, macho, etc.)
When blacks were confronted with stereotypes, they responded by playing up the positive elements of those stereotypes (masculine, sexually potent) and shedding the negative elements of them. There was a period of Blaxploitation movies in the 70s that was a never ending parade of black heroes, very cliched, but all of them were cool. They took this concept of cool and they used it for all it was worth, using it as an offensive weapon against all of the negative stereotypes about them, and it worked. Shaft may be a predictable character, but nobody would ever say he wasn’t cool. Samuel L. Jackson’s character in Pulp Fiction was pretty much the epitome of cool for the 90s and onwards. You hardly ever have a movie where there’s a black nebbish or a black loser who can’t get the girl or who can’t stand up for himself.
What did Jews do when confronted with negative stereotypes? They played them to the hilt, because (sigh) it’s what sold. Woody Allen is the Jewish equivalent of Step’n’Fetchit - but Jews think of him as something laudable, instead of as a sniveling ass who gives his people a bad name. Jewish directors continue to crank out movies with Jewish nebbishes and dorks, and Jewish actors continue to play them.
BTW, if you want some books that feature bad ass Jews, have you read any Michael Chabon? Two books in particular you should check out: Gentlemen of the Road (Working title: Jews with Swords) and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. The first is the adventures of two Jewish mercenaries in Eastern Europe circa 1000 AD, the second is a noir crime drama featuring a Philip Marlowe-ish police detective in an alternate history America where Jewish immigrants were given Native-American-style reservations, instead of being integrated into the mainstream of society.
I heard the Yiddish Policeman’s Union is an amazing book, I do plan on reading it.
Well one can hardly complain of anti-Semitism in these portrayals given that many of these stereotypically “Jewish-nebbish” characters were in films produced, directed, bankrolled or otherwise green-lighted by people in the film business of Jewish extraction.
Why would they indulge this stereotype?
Ever heard the term “self-hating Jew?” I’m sure you have. I think it’s not always the most appropriate term - sometimes the word “hate” might be a little too dramatic, but there are definitely a lot of Jews who are somewhat ashamed of their heritage and want to distance themselves from it. There are also a lot of Jews who don’t mind perpetuating very bad stereotypes about Jews if it will make them money (which is itself a stereotype.) Sure, everyone is interested in making money, it’s not like the Jews have a monopoly on that, but the Jews certainly do seem to make fun of themselves more than any other people on the planet. This can be a good in a small measure - but when it gets to the point of reinforcing very poisonous stereotypes that the Jews can’t fight, stand up for themselves, that the Jew is a weakling or a neurotic loser - I think it’s a negative.
How about Neil Diamond–“The Jewish Elvis”–in The Jazz Singer? Cool, assertive, in a band, and the guy keeps Kosher! No ass-kicking scenes I can recall, but he’s far from a wuss or a mama’s boy.
Or does admitting that I watched that movie in a theater discredit me somehow?
I think you’re being a bit of drama lama about this issue. Jews in business most certainly have a reputation for being “tough”, and although you can find exceptions it is more true than not than Jews are not particularly well represented demographically in the latter half of the 20th century as superstar players in rough and tumble sports. The fact that Jews have enough self confidence to laugh at the nebbish stereotype of themselves speaks more to their strength than their weakness.
One good character I can think of is Seth Davis, the main character of Boiler Room, who is definitely supposed to be Jewish, who is a brilliant stockbroker at a corrupt firm. The character is smart and quick-thinking without being conniving, nebbishy or dorky. He steals the hot girlfriend of the firm’s boss (who is also explicitly Jewish, and is an weaselly character, but dark and menacing, which at least means he’s a serious character and not a joke.) Seth’s father, a judge, played by Ron Rifkin (who always plays Jews) is also a stand up guy who is honorable, firm, and incorruptible. I’d say this is one of the few movies that has Jewish characters, both good and bad, who aren’t dripping with cliched stereotypes.
How about Charles Bronsan in Raid on Entebbe?
How many movies are there about Israel? How many have been made in the past 10 years and released to mainstream audiences in America?
Now how many movies are there with Jewish wimps?
Oh, please. Black comics make fun of black people. (Chris Rock, e.g.) Hillbillies make fun of hillbillies. (Hee Haw, Jeff Foxworthy.) British comedians make fun of the British. (Monty Python.)
Pretty much all comedians feel they have free rein to make fun of their own. You are being too sensitive, I think.
And you want to fret about stereotypes? Get back to me the first time Hollywood depicts an erudite Southerner.
I knew this would be a losing battle from the moment I posted the OP. The perceptions of Jews are just too deeply ingrained. I knew I’d get far too many posts disagreeing with my premise, and not enough posts actually offering up examples of Jewish heroes, particularly within the past 15 years or so.
There may be other comedians who make fun of their own kind, but the Jews practically invented the art of stand-up comedy. The real issue I’m talking about isn’t stand-up comedians like Rock and Foxworthy, it’s films (serious ones primarily, but comedies too) where the Jewish male is basically emasculated. There may be counter-examples but not enough of them.
Dude— are you aware that not all movies have to do with fighting? Or that most people really and truly do know that Woody Allen is Woody Allen and not a typical Jewish guy? And that most people don’t measure the worth of a man by how well he handles a gun or throws a punch? Or with the phrase “moving the goal posts” [as in “Yeah, that one featured a Sephardic Minnesota Jew being a badass, but show me one time when a movie featured a Jew from Minnesota who celebrated Yom Kippur and had a clearly Ashkenazic last name who was able to defend himself in a boxing match? … Oh that one, yeah, there’s* 'Marvin Mandel: The Minnesota Jew Who Could Box *, but show me one movie about a Minnesota Ashkenazic Jewish boxer that doesn’t have klezmer or a grandmother who sounds like Molly Picon”])?
Capote?
Atticus Finch.