In a popular source on Refinery29 titled 28 Characters That Changed The Game For Jewish Women On-Screen — Right? Of Course Right, the author, Anne Cohen, presents 28 different female Jewish characters on television. I find the article very interesting, and thoroughly enjoyed reading the analyses of the Jewish characters. Cohen mainly talks about ways that the stereotypical Jewish American Princess is portrayed on-screen; these qualities include loud, curly hair, big nose, pampered, materialistic, etc. I think it is interesting how sometimes a character would be Jewish but the actress playing her was not. This just shows how filmmakers wanted the stereotype to be portrayed, regardless of who the actress was. Some of the women in the article are mentioned more than once for their key roles as Jewish women, such as Fran Drescher and Barbra Streisand. Both women feel a connection with their culture in portraying these roles, which I find very heartwarming. I am very familiar with some of the actresses and their roles that are mentioned in the article, including Jennifer Grey as Frances “Baby” Houseman in Dirty Dancing (1987), Fran Drescher as Fran Fine in The Nanny (1993-1999), Coutney Cox and Jennifer Aniston as Monica and Rachel in Friends (1994-2004), and Kristin Davis as Charlotte in Sex and the City (1998-2004); I have also heard of but not watched Barbara Streisand as Esther Hoffman in A Star is Born (1976), Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine Benes in Seinfeld (1989-1998), Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz in Clueless (1995), and Lea Michele as Rachel Berry in Glee (2009-2015). In Cohen’s work, I like how she starts by giving examples of female Jewish roles that are perceived as stereotypical norms but then moves onto more modern examples that are unconventional such as a Jewish woman who identifies as non-binary following their trip to Israel, a black woman who converts to Judaism to access the prison cafeteria’s higher quality kosher meals, and two Jewish women who post a Craigslist ad for their service of cleaning in their underwear for weed money. I truly enjoy the addition of the modern concept of breaking the mold of a Jewish American Princess, but do wish that the author would have analyzed this in a paragraph prior to listing the modern depictions of Jewish women.
I believe that this popular source will tie in well to our project of “Jewish Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Film and Television.” It definitely highlights the gender aspect very well for women by pointing out the stereotypes and way that it is being redirected now. I think that our group can utilize this article by mentioning the portrayals of Jewish women in film that we have already seen, but also by choosing a film or two to focus on analyzing from this source.
Cohen, A. (n.d.). 28 characters that changed the game for Jewish women on-screen. Most Important Female Jewish Characters In Movies & TV. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/05/232226/jewish-women-characters-movies-tv
Hey Jaden! You did a really good job at providing examples and explaining how Cohen’s article was effective, while also identifying areas for improvement in the text. It is very interesting that the source is from Refinery29 since I know it is a platform targeted for young audiences. I feel it is worth including how this can iow we interpret Cohen’s argument. I am interested in how you wished that Cohen talked about the “breaking the mold of a Jewish American Princess” in a “paragraph prior to listing the modern depictions of Jewish women.” I completely agree with you, but I think you need to expand on the reason why this analysis would be necessary, since a person who has never read the article would not understand. From your review, I have a greater understanding of traditional stereotypes of Jewish women in the media and unconventional representations of Jewish women that challenge these stereotypes. So what? Why does unconventional representations matter in our lives today?
There are a lot of moments in your source review that I find interesting that I would like to learn more about and highlight in our research. Barbra Streisand and Fran Drescher felt a strong connection to their characters. I am curious about the portrayal of Jewish characters from the perspective of Jewish and non-Jewish actors. The connnection that the actors felt is something unique in this source. While other sources list out the descriptors of the sterotypes and how they are reflected back on to the audience, it is interesting to see how the actors themselves are affected by it. I apprieciate that there are so many examples of media, whether popular TV and movies, such as “Friends,” but also ones that you haven’t heard of before. You mention unconventional Jews, Jewish people who break the mold, such as non-binary and non-white indenifying.I would like to hear more about this point, especially because a main part of our research is focusing on queer-identifying Jews. Overall, I really like how your source review is formated, focusing on specific forms of media and the sterotypes that come out of it, but I am interested to dive more into the parts that talk about breaking the mold.