That would actually be really interesting to look into - I wonder if there's any media theses who've done it already; I'd especially love a look at the flags for Jewish characters in "Jewish" media (with Jewish themes as main plot points), media made with Jewish input, and media with Jewish characters but no Jewish writers - I've definitely gotten "vibes" of a few books that read as very Jewish or distinctly NOT Jewish regardless of the character makeup, and my mother who runs a Jewish book club at our synagogue has noticed it too. Hard to pinpoint, but there's definitely something in the way themes and such are handled... it reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend after watching Inglorious Basterds, which while a very fun movie with ostensibly many Jewish characters, did not feel very Jewish at all, compared to Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which despite only having one or two Jewish characters and that having very little to do with the story, felt deeply Jewish. I'd say your books are slightly less Jewish-themed than T&T&T (mostly since that's a conflict-driven drama that really showcases the "wrestling with life/the universe/God" while yours are much, much lighter), but still feel MUCH more inclusive of what Judaism means and how characters approach it then Inglorious Basterds; but it's hard to compare across such different genres XD
Yeah, there are so many types of media that interact with Jewishness, from subtle and authentic to, well, pretty antisemitic, and everything inbetween. I don't think I'm the person to do it, for sure, but I'd love to read that essay (or book) if someone did. I recently watched "Nobody Wants This", about Judaism but based on a gentile's experience of it, and watching the varying reactions of my (gentile) mother, my own self (in conversion but not yet converted), and my Jewish friends, was really fascinating.
I did find a couple of theses through google scholar, so the work is being done! Mostly focused on news still, but one or two on mass media in the last few decades. Most recent/relevant one I found was "Representation of Jews in the Media: An Analysis of Old Hollywood Stereotypes Perpetuated in Modern Television"; I skimmed the abstract and will probably read it in full later, it sounds interesting! I haven't seen "Nobody Wants This" but that is an interesting perspective to approach Judaism from!
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v838monoceros on Chapter 3 Fri 08 Aug 2025 02:55AM UTC
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