{"id":683632,"date":"2025-08-06T20:30:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T17:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-jewish-screen-stories-need-more-joy\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T20:30:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T17:30:54","slug":"why-jewish-screen-stories-need-more-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-jewish-screen-stories-need-more-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Jewish Screen Stories Need More Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tOne of the essential movies<\/a> of my coming of age was Dirty Dancing<\/em>, a film that doesn\u2019t first come to mind as Jewish \u2014 it has such broad app<\/a>eal \u2014 but on second thought, it is the ultimate Jewish movie. It has a strong Jewish heroine, set within a Jewish world, acting upon her Jewish values (equality, questioning of authority and courage). It\u2019s also an incredibly joyful watch, full of all those healthy sensations that make blood rush through our bodies a little faster: sexual desire, music, humor, risk-taking \u2014 the sort of movie that makes you feel more alive when you see it.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn contrast, the stories we first think of as Jewish tend to fall into one of two categories: neurotic Jewish comedies or trauma-based pieces. As for the latter, they are most often centered on or set against the backdrop of the Holocaust \u2014 films like Schindler\u2019s List<\/em>, Europa Europa<\/em> and The Brutalist.<\/em> We have excelled at telling these stories, and they are immensely important \u2014 as a testament to our resilience and as cautionary tales. We need to keep making them. But stories of loss are only part of who we are as a people.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it comes to comedies, creators like Larry David, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Natasha Lyonne have created wonderfully layered Jewish characters that reinvent the neurotic type. Other examples include Girls<\/em>, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend<\/em> and most early films by Woody Allen. The neurotic Jew is a real thing, and these works explore it with nuance and depth. That said, there are few examples of Jewish comedic characters that go beyond neurotic \u2014 and in lesser hands, they can fall into stereotypes. Just as Jewish drama is often a reflection of historical pain, our comedy tends to channel anxiety.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe suggestion I want to make is that now is a time that we need to make space for more Jewish joy onscreen \u2014 films and TV rooted in authentic Jewish culture, ethics and experiences that show Jewish lives as multifaceted and exciting. In addition to our stories of trauma and neurosis, we need to express that Jewish life can be joyful. In the Emmy-nominated Netflix comedy Nobody Wants This<\/em>, there is a beautiful moment when the Rabbi Noah character (Adam Brody) performs the Shabbat rituals of Kiddush and Ha\u2019motzi in a bar for his non-Jewish love interest (Kristen Bell). It\u2019s modern and spiritual, rooted in our history and brimming with energy. The scene makes a religious Jewish world relatable and expands Jewish identity beyond suffering and anxiety. More moments like this on the screen, please.<\/p>\n

\n\tOlder work like Keeping the Faith<\/em>, Crossing Delancey<\/em> and, of course, Dirty Dancing<\/em> are classic examples of Jewish joy onscreen \u2014 full of humor, passion and belief in love without cynicism.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the past two years, being Jewish has become more challenging. With rising antisemitism \u2014 such as the recent attacks at the Capital Jewish Museum and in Boulder, Colorado, and the horrors of both the Oct. 7 attack and the heartbreaking war and famine in Gaza \u2014 our world is in turmoil. And Jewish identity feels much more complicated. As a Jewish parent, I\u2019ve always wanted my kids to have grounded, supported Jewish identities. Yet in many Jewish families, there are such divergent opinions on Israel these days that many members cannot even converse with one another. Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, it is not easy to be a Jew at this moment. It\u2019s not easy to be a human being with a conscience<\/a>, period. There\u2019s a strong argument for despair. But joy is an antidote. And stories rooted in joy sustain and connect\u00a0us.<\/p>\n

\n\tI recently directed a film, The Floaters<\/em>, a Jewish summer camp comedy that is full of that bright, awkward, tender, sexually charged energy of youth \u2014 and celebrates Jewish identity in its many different forms. We cast all our Jewish characters with Jewish actors, which is not common, and our cast is diverse, because Jews are not homogenous. The characters in our film come from different backgrounds, have conflicting relationships with Judaism and yet, amid the antics of summer, they connect. The film asks how can community nurture strong individuals, and can a community of divergent individuals still manage to hold together? There is joy in offering an expansive sense of what it means to be a Jew.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s time for a new wave of Jewish stories onscreen, to shift the balance to stories of joy. It\u2019s not about ignoring anxiety and suffering or avoiding hard subjects, it\u2019s just saying, \u201cYes, and.\u201d Without balancing out our stories of loss like this, we risk teaching a generation that Jewishness equals pain. And without showcasing an array of different types of Jewish characters, we limit how the world sees us and how we see ourselves.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe need films that wrestle with the past, tread into the murky present and help us process trauma.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe also need stories that are sexy, funny, dangerous and life-affirming to propel us forward.<\/p>\n

\n\tRachel Israel is a writer and director whose 2017 film <\/em>Keep the Change, about a romance between two neuro-atypical adults, won best narrative feature at the Tribeca Film Festival, and was a <\/em>New York Times Critic\u2019s Pick. Her new movie is <\/em>The Floaters. <\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tThis story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One of the essential movies of my coming of age was Dirty Dancing, a film that doesn\u2019t first come to mind as Jewish \u2014 it has such broad appeal \u2014 but on second thought, it is the ultimate Jewish movie. It has a strong Jewish heroine, set within a Jewish world, acting upon her Jewish…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-683632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-mediaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}