New Jews? Race and American Jewish Identity in 21st-Century Film

204 Pages·2012·6.813 MB·English

by  David L. Reznik

New Jews?
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New Jews?
Race and American Jewish Identity
in 21st-Century Film
David L. Reznik
First published 2012 by Paradigm Publishers
Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright © 2012 ,Taylor & Francis.
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Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reznik, David L.
New Jews? : race and American Jewish identity in 21st-century film /
David L. Reznik.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61205-071-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Jews in motion pictures. 2. Race in motion pictures. 3. Stereotypes (Social
psychology) in motion pictures. 4. Motion pictures—United States—History—
21st century. I. Title.
PN1995.9.J46R49 2012
791.43'6552—dc23
2011050898
Designed and Typeset by Straight Creek Bookmakers.
ISBN13: 978-1-61205-071-3 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-1-61205-072-0 (pbk)
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Contents
Preface vii
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Chapter 2 American Jewish Racial Identity Politics
Off- and Onscreen 15
Chapter 3 Family Dynamics and the Stereotype
of the “Meddling Matriarch” 40
Chapter 4 Cinematic Portrayals of American Jewish
Romance and Sexuality 64
Chapter 5 The Myth of “Pampered Princess”
Material Consumption 92
Chapter 6 American Jewish Political Economy
at the Movies 114
Chapter 7 Race, Film, and 21st-Century American
Jewish Identity 140
Appendix 161
Works Cited 170
Index 179
About the Author 193
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Preface
This book is the first comprehensive study of American Jewish identity
in Hollywood movies of the new millennium. Surveying more than fifty
films of the past decade, it details the ways that four of the most promi-
nent stereotypes of American Jews in 20th-century film persist in today’s
cinema. Whether Hollywood blockbusters like Meet the Fockers and Sex and
the City or indie favorites like Garden State and Kissing Jessica Stein, 21st-
century film continues to feature dozens of American Jewish “meddling
matriarchs,” “neurotic nebbishes,” “pampered princesses,” and “scheming
scumbags,” and in this book you will find discussion of characters em-
bodying these stereotypes played by the likes of Jim Carrey, Tom Cruise,
Anne Hathaway, Kate Hudson, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Jessica Parker,
Adam Sandler, and Ben Stiller.
At the same time, this book also illuminates how American Jewish
identity has changed on the big screen in recent years. The traditional
American Jewish stereotypes of family dysfunction, emasculated insecurity,
feminine hyper-materialism, and conniving deceit have taken on new forms
in contemporary film, and these changes are documented and explained
throughout the text. Most notably, these stereotypes have expanded across
age, gender, and sexuality lines to include a wider umbrella of American
Jewish characters, shifts that are linked to larger 21st-century trends in
family life and identity politics across U.S. society.
Here you will also find an important discussion of the disproportionate
role American Jewish creative teams (i.e., directors/writers) play in the
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production of these stereotypes, a phenomenon that is linked not only
to the issue of contemporary racial identity politics but also to the larger
political economy of globalization and neoliberalism as well. Significant
differences in the portrayal of American Jewish characters between big-
budget film and independent cinema are also addressed, particularly the
fact that the latter tends to explore more explicit and assertive forms of
American Jewish identity given the relatively lesser degree of profitability
pressure felt in that arena of filmmaking.
Regarding the origins of this project, it is important to note that while
the subject of racial stereotypes in film was well researched in the latter
half of the 20th century, the increasingly popular idea that America is
becoming a “postracial” society has created a social climate that discour-
ages such study today. This broader issue is magnified when dealing with a
group like American Jews, whose “successful” assimilation in U.S. society
has led to the popular notion that they are just another bunch of “white
folks.” Within such a context, it may seem irrelevant to reexamine the
stereotyping of American Jews in contemporary film.
However, it is the fundamental premise of this book that American
Jews are indeed a racial minority in U.S. society, even if they represent
the quintessential “model minority.” After all, American Jews are a racial
group that is protected by anti-discrimination laws thanks to a 1987 Su-
preme Court ruling (Gibel Azoulay 93), and it would be somewhat naïve
to believe that there would be no lingering effects from the centuries-old,
European-imported racialization of American Jewish identity in U.S. so-
ciety. Moreover, film-studies circles have been abuzz with the idea that a
“new Jew” is emerging onscreen, one who supposedly subverts, transcends,
and/or redefines traditional American Jewish stereotypes. Therefore, it is
quite prudent and timely to explore the portrayals of American Jews in
today’s cinema, not only to assess the present state of racial stereotypes
about American Jewish identity but also to test these claims about the
emergence of a “new Jew” in Hollywood film.
A more personal impetus for this book comes out of ambivalence about
my own racial identity as an American Jew. The son of Jewish immigrants
from the former Soviet Union, I was raised in predominantly white Anglo-
Saxon Protestant (W.A.S.P.) surroundings and have spent many years
reflecting upon two contradictory forces that shaped my sense of self: the
often quite overt antisemitism I experienced growing up as well as the
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Preface ix
“honorary white” privilege from which I have benefitted. Along the way,
I have come to realize how immense an impact mass media, particularly
film, has had on my racial identity. Famous American Jewish characters
played by Woody Allen, Robin Williams, Barbra Streisand, and Jennifer
Grey deeply informed my understanding of how a Jew in American society
behaves, looks, and thinks, and it is only after studying the evolution of
the American Jewish cinematic stereotype that I have come to realize both
the pervasiveness of these images and the depth of their influence on the
identity of millions of Jews in the United States.
Current, topical, and written in clear and readable prose, this book
should appeal not only to students and scholars of sociology, film, and
Jewish studies but also to those who have a more general interest in Hol-
lywood movies, racial stereotypes in the mass media, and American popular
culture. For those who do wish to delve into the more formal academic
elements of the text, I have included an appendix that presents detailed
discussions about the theoretical frameworks and research methodology for
the book. And for those who have been assigned this text in one of your
courses, there are discussion questions and additional readings listed at
the end of each chapter to help facilitate the learning process. Regardless
of your specific interest in the book, I hope that you will find my analysis
of American Jewish racial identity in 21st-century film both enlightening
and provocative, as I believe it is crucial that we as a society begin to reen-
gage in public debate on larger questions of U.S. race relations despite the
“postracial” rhetoric with which we seem to be inundated on a daily basis.