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Dayofsloths t1_ix7vvxp wrote

I have to say the basic premise that we don't see Jewish people on television is pretty laughable.

Curb your enthusiasm, the marvelous Mrs Maisel, The Goldberg's, and Seinfeld are just off the top of my head, there are tons more.

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Bob_12_Pack t1_ix7xwkk wrote

According to the article, not Jewish enough apparently, or in the case of Mrs Maisel, the actress isn't Jewish.

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dravenonred t1_ix80nrl wrote

Right? Like, that's not a problem for us. I don't have to be mad about Michael Fassbender playing a Jewish magneto when half the Avengers are Jewish actors playing non-jewish roles. Working Jewish actors are doing okay as is.

But when Idris Elba is "too urban" to play James Bond and Laverne Cox doesn't get cis character roles, they have a much better argument for authentic casting than we do.

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centrafrugal t1_ixc0q49 wrote

>But when Idris Elba is "too urban" to play James Bond

Is this an actual quote from someone? Any time this idea comes up it's always fans clamouring for Elba, the producers saying they'd love to cast him and Idris saying he's never had any desire to play James Bond.

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dravenonred t1_ixc44ls wrote

https://time.com/4018556/anthony-horowitz-idris-elba-james-bond/

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centrafrugal t1_ixcaaq5 wrote

Thanks, hadn't heard that before. Thankfully the writer seems to be pretty much alone on that and not in any position to influence casting.

>“For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It’s not a color issue. I think he is probably a bit too ‘street’ for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah.”

I'm not sure exactly what 'street' means it sounds like he doesn't understand the difference between Stringer Bell and Idris Elba!

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SuspendedInKarmaMama t1_ix838ft wrote

Jews are the most overrepresented demographic on tv and in film by far, it's not even close.

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ZombieRichardNixonx t1_ix94rd4 wrote

Jewish people are so well represented on TV that when I was growing up as a Jewish kid, I never even realized how much of a minority we were in the general population, because so much of what I watched seemed to have Jewish representation in one form or another.

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HumanOrAlien t1_ix874e2 wrote

The Patient and Fleishman Is In Trouble are two very recent examples.

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BlackSpinedPlinketto t1_ix89z09 wrote

I really enjoyed what the Jewish element brought to The Patient. The ending sucked, but the story was really interesting and the conflict between orthodox and just the mother who sang Jewish songs was one of the more interesting aspects. There was a parallel to him and those in a prison camp too. Shame it didn’t knock it out the park, but was decent.

I don’t feel like Jewish life is under represented at all, but it’s still nice to explore it. There are lots of types of families and cultures to explore in the world, you mainly see (American) Catholics, Italian, Jewish and black.

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barkbarkkrabkrab t1_ix8c27m wrote

The Patient felt like an actual Jewish story because there is actual cultural tension between Orthodox and Reform/Conservative jews and it added meaning to the main story. Transparent is probably the most Reform Jewish show ever. Admittedly Mrs.Maisel doesn't hit right for me- sure she talks a lot about making briskets, but her complete obliviousness to civil rights or like hiring/housing discrimination in the 1960s drives me nuts!

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Bears_On_Stilts t1_ix8olih wrote

Midge Maisel, besides her involvement in the very Jewish comedy circuit, is embodying the mostly-forgotten archetype of "the Jewish Princess." Upper middle class to upper class, materialistic and pop-culture savvy, not especially interested in ethnic or religious tradition or history beyond a superficial level, somewhat apolitical, thoroughly Americanized and "white" despite her parents being much more entrenched in a lived traditional Jewish experience.

Remember that it's been over a century since the Jewish diaspora hit America in its biggest wave, and nearly a hundred years since the Holocaust. Jewish culture in America has become extremely secularized and mainstreamed, so the notion of "Jewish girl behaving like a white girl" doesn't really hold water anymore as a character archetype. But you get a lot of Jewish Princess jokes in the earlier works of Mel Brooks, Allan Sherman, Neil Simon (whose distinctive style is aped STRONGLY by Mrs. Maisel), etc.

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BlackSpinedPlinketto t1_ix97vkf wrote

Oh lol like literally the princess in Spaceballs? I guess that was what he was doing. I loved that movie, even though I had never met or heard of many Jews. And I hadn’t seen Star Wars.

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