The New Jew in Film: Exploring Jewishness and Judaism in Contemporary Cinema
Author(s): Nathan Abrams (Author)
Publisher: I.B.Tauris
Publication Date: 30 Nov. 2011
Language: English
Print length: 272 pages
ISBN-10: 1848855745
ISBN-13: 9781848855748
Book Description
Jewish film characters have existed almost as long as the medium itself. But around 1990, films about Jews and their representation in cinema multiplied and took on new forms, marking a radical rupture with the past. With a new generation of Jewish filmmakers, writers and actors at work, contemporary cinemas in Hollywood and the rest of the world have been depicting a multiplicity of new Jews, including tough Jews, brutish Jews, gay and lesbian Jews, Jewish cowboys, skinheads and superheroes, Jews in space and so on. Grounded in the study of over 300 films from Hollywood and beyond, ‘The New Jew in Film’ explores these new and changing depictions of Jews, Jewishness and Judaism, providing a wider, more representative picture of the subject than has hitherto been attempted. This is a compelling, surprising and provocative book, whose chapters explore masculinity, femininity, passivity, agency, religion, as well as a departure into new territory including food and bathrooms. Its concern is to reveal how the representation of the Jew is used to convey confidence or anxieties about Jewish identity and history, as well as how it engages with questions of racial, sexual and gender politics. In so doing, ‘The New Jew in Film’ also provides a welcome overview of important Jewish films produced globally over the last twenty years.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Nathan Abrams is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Bangor University.
The New Jew in Film: Exploring Jewishness and Judaism in Contemporary Cinema
Author(s): Nathan Abrams (Author)
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Publication Date: 12 Mar. 2012
Language: English
Print length: 272 pages
ISBN-10: 0813553407
ISBN-13: 9780813553405
Book Description
Jewish film characters have existed almost as long as the medium itself. But around 1990, films about Jews and their representation in cinema multiplied and took on new forms, marking a significant departure from the past. With a fresh generation of Jewish filmmakers, writers, and actors at work, contemporary cinemas have been depicting a multiplicity of new variants, including tough Jews; brutish Jews; gay and lesbian Jews; Jewish cowboys, skinheads, and superheroes; and even Jews in space.
The New Jew in Film is grounded in the study of over three hundred films from Hollywood and beyond. Nathan Abrams explores these new and changing depictions of Jews, Jewishness, and Judaism, providing a wider, more representative picture of this transformation. In this compelling, surprising, and provocative book, chapters explore masculinity, femininity, passivity, agency, and religion in addition to a departure into new territory―including bathrooms and food. Abrams’s concern is to reveal how the representation of the Jew is used to convey confidence or anxieties about Jewish identity and history as well as questions of racial, sexual, and gender politics. In doing so, he provides a welcome overview of important Jewish films produced globally over the past twenty years.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Abrams adds fresh perspectives on emerging global film depictions of Jews in an investigation of how old, fixed categories of stereotypes have been subverted since 1990. This is a brilliantly conceived study of representation. Abrams shows how cinema has become the vehicle for normalizing Jews, generally stereotyped and mocked but now framed in ordinary ways. Highly recommended.” – Choice
“Thorough, insightful, and solidly theorized, The New Jew in Film more than picks up where Erens and Friedman left off. Besides its international reach, the book opens―especially in its religion, food, and toilet sections―significant new areas of ethnic-based investigation.” – Vincent Brook, author of Driven to Darkness: Jewish Émigré Directors and the Rise of Film Noir
“Providing a comprehensive and engaging investigation of the new American Jewish cinema, Nathan Abrams builds upon previous studies to broaden the spectrum of both cinema and Jewish cultural scholarship.” – Lester D. Friedman, author of Hollywood’s Image of the Jew
About the Author
Nathan Abrams is a senior lecturer in film studies at Bangor University in Wales. He is the author and editor of numerous books and articles, including Jews and Sex and Studying Film.
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