this is so bizarre (and also inaccurate) that I can’t even decipher what they’re trying to say by putting it up there.
an explanation of why he did this…it’s uh. not great
Since it was placed earlier this week, community members have expressed anger about the Lake Theater and Cafe’s marquee advertising screenin
Since it was placed earlier this week, community members have expressed anger about the Lake Theater and Cafe’s marquee advertising screenings of Christopher Nolan’s new film “The Odyssey.”
The south-facing marquee reads “Before there were the Jews, there was… The Odyssey.”
The reference has concerned many in the local Jewish community, specifically because of the current political environment in which the Jewish community faces heightened criticism — and bigotry — following escalating violence in occupied Gaza, and many feel that the marquee is antisemetic and ahistorical.
Bob Horenstein, The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland chief community relations and public affairs officer, said the federation has received dozens of messages from concerned community members. The Review also received many emails expressing concerns and many people have posted on social media about it.
“There’s drawing attention, and then there’s being offensive … What I wrote to (Lake Theater) yesterday was, we’d received over three dozen (email and calls) at least that members of our community feel very unsettled by the sign and I said we do not know the reason behind the choice of language, nor are we suggesting that there is necessarily any ill intent,” he said. “But to understand that, given the current climate of rising anti-Semitism, any reference to ‘the Jews’ is immediately suspected, rightly or wrongly, of having nefarious intentions, and that we would respectfully urge you to remove the current language and simply promote the movie.”
Jordan Perry, the general manager of the Lake Theater, said the marquee text would be taken down.
In a text message, he said the point of the remark was to push back on what is constituted as antisemitism and said he was surprised by the negative reaction it has received.
“My intention is never to influence opinion or fan flames, but to say: it’s okay to raise eyebrows, though I hope my messages reflect a depth of understanding others find in themselves but not always in the world around them,” said Perry by text message. “Through the media I consume, I believe modern-day antisemitism is exaggerated, mostly as a defense for Israel’s actions in the Middle East and its involvement in our politics, and my intention in referencing Jewish people on the marquee was to prod at everything being seemingly antisemitic with a statement that couldn’t possibly be construed as antisemitic.”
He added: “My intention was not to offend anyone, but rather to push back culturally back on what constitutes antisemitism, to signal, in solidarity, that it’s not about ‘the Jews,’ that it’s about Israel, and Palestine, and Lebanon, and Iran, and AIPAC. This is my ‘humor,’ this was the point, intentionally subtle, of what I put on the marquee.”
Perry added that the marquees reflect his personal views, not those of the business, and are “meant to connect with open-minded members of the community on a personal level, not as a business, and anyone coming to the business should only expect good food and drink, a relaxing environment, friendly staff, with a sort-of cynical guy sometimes behind the register who also runs food and cleans toilets.”
Rabbi Eve Posen, of Congregation Nevah Shalom, connected the marquee with accusations by members of the U.S. Congress that Israel is committing genocide in Palestine and said that a member of the community’s car was recently vandalized with swastikas.
“None of the individual moments, taken on their own, would necessarily warrant a public reflection. We live in a world where people disagree. We debate policy. We challenge history. We confront acts of hatred. But when these moments come one after another, layering upon one another in the span of a single day, they tell a story that is impossible to ignore,” Posen wrote via social media.
She also felt that there was no good reason for the Lake Theater to bring up the Jewish community while advertising the new film.
“The statement is historically false. More importantly, it raises a painful question: why invoke Jews at all? A clever movie promotion could have celebrated one of the oldest stories ever told without unnecessarily positioning Judaism as an afterthought or a comparison. In a moment when antisemitism is already at historic levels, casually inserting Jews into a narrative where we do not belong doesn’t feel harmless. It feels like another reminder that our story is somehow expendable, that our history can be rewritten or diminished for the sake of a punchline,” she wrote.
The north-facing marquee also referenced the new movie with the message, “Do you watch TV w/ subtitles? We’ve got The Odyssey w/ subtitles! (Not always, but sometimes).”
Many people commented that the story of The Odyssey – Homer’s original Greek epic passed down through an oral tradition – isn’t definitively older than evidence of Israelite tribes in ancient Canaan.
“it’s not about the Jews,” says absolute jerk who put “the Jews” on his marquee. “I’m not antisemitic” says the fool denying modern antisemitism.
