Why Hollywood Needs to ‘Explore and Highlight Jewish Joy,’ Not Just ‘Suffering or Idiosyncrasies’
variety.comJonah Platt “What’s your favorite Jewish movie?” This is not a question you often hear. Ask it and you’re likely to get a furrowed brow, a scrunched nose, and then finally a, “Uh… ‘Schindler’s List?’”?
Same goes for theater (“Fiddler on the Roof?”) and television (“Maisel?”). We don’t have a lot of options when it comes to Jewish stories onscreen, and the ones we do have are most often stories of strife, persecution and victimhood.
The pickings are slim. Look, I understand that the Jewish people are the most minor of minorities— we make up roughly 2% of the U.S.
population — so I don’t expect to find thousands of high-profile Jewish stories every day in every medium. But at this moment within our culture, when the entertainment industry is being flooded with the palpable vibrating energy of so many minority communities rightfully surging forth to take up space, tell their stories, and celebrate their identities, the Jewish people need to get in gear and join the party.
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