Against larger Hollywood trends towards embracing cultural identity, Jewish characters on TV are still depicted as hiding or playing down their Jewishness, according to a new study from USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project.
The study, undertaken with the support of the Jewish Institute for Television and Cinema Hollywood Bureau, also confirmed that “Jewface” really does exist, noting that only half of Jewish characters are played by Jewish actors. It also pointed out that Jewish actresses are 21 percent less likely to be cast as Jewish characters than their male counterparts are.
The study is the first of its kind to focus on Jewish representation since 1999 and predates the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and ensuing war in Gaza, which has led to an explosive 60 percent increase in antisemitic hate crimes. Still, incidents of antisemitism rose in the period covered by the study, which analyzed 108 Jewish characters in 49 episodes from 15 scripted TV series that aired between 2021 and 2022.
Among the series are The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Big Mouth, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Goldbergs, The Good Fight and And Just Like That.
Only 18 percent of Jewish characters reference their Judaism, the study finds. When you omit characters who are in Jewish careers like rabbis or funeral directors, the number of Jews who reference their culture goes down to 13 percent.
The study took a deeper look at depictions of the Orthodox community in film and TV, finding that half of the Orthodox characters are portrayed with “judgment and othering,” while one in five have a “generally cold demeanor” and are “dissatisfied with their lives.”
A third of all references to Orthodox Jews happen without an Orthodox Jew present — meaning they are being spoken about “as opposed to speaking for themselves.”
The study also detected a trend of Jews leaning away from their identities, with 31 percent of characters embracing other cultures over their own. They cite Hallmark Channel movies like Double Holiday and Holiday Date, where a Jewish character must learn the meaning of Christmas to keep her relationship alive.
It found almost no diversity among the Jews on TV, all of whom are depicted as white or Ashkenazi Jews. Jews of color, Mizrahi Jews and LGBTQ-identifying Jews were not represented.
The report also found certain antisemitic tropes, some that date back to Shakespeare’s times — the greedy Shylock, the nebbish man, the overbearing Jewish mother — are still alive.
Two percent of Jewish characters were shown being “cheap” (e.g. arguing over a $1 Ferris wheel ticket), while 5 percent were shown committing a violent act and 7 percent were portrayed as generally unsympathetic.
To promote more diverse and nuanced depictions of Jewish Americans, the study recommended elevating Jewish characters whose stories often remain untold; being mindful of tropes that associate Jews with money or power; and giving voice to Jewish pride and joy.
It also recommends allowing Orthodox characters to speak for themselves and depicting Orthodox Jews as “the people next door.”
Read the full study here.
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