Newsflash, not casting a Jewish actress in a Jewish role is antisemitism. Not casting a Jewish actress in a Jewish role and then having them erase the Jewishness from the movie is antisemitism. Being HAPPY about the erasure and saying any talk of her being Jewish is a throwaway line, is antisemitism. It IS a big deal. And it DOES matter because that’s literally who Nora is. The same way Henry is Blond, or British, or white, or Alex is Mexican, or Amy is Trans. These make up their characters and people would be pissed if any of this changed, yet are fine with it for Nora, even though being Jewish is WHO SHE IS. You don’t have to act Jewish to be Jewish. She’s acting like sooooo many Jewish girls by literally doing nothing.
Hollywood has made everyone think that “She was right for the role” is a valid argument about anything. It’s not fucking true. The best person for a role of a minority character is an actor of that minority! Always! Rachel has been proven to not be Jewish. She is proven to be a Christian. Is she talented? Fuck yeah. Should she have been cast as Nora? No. Nora, book Nora, is Jewish. They seemed to have no problem casting others according to the book, so not casting a Jewish actress was deliberate. Because they could’ve cast one and they didn’t. That was a choice. They found niche actors to hit the niche characters, yet… Not for the Jew. That’s what’s antisemitic.
Think with me for a second here. Imagine if Nora was Asian (let’s say… Chinese, just random). They mention it once when describing her character (“Sleek, black hair.”) and then later on when she’s going home for Chinese New Year. Is she not Chinese any other time? Would it be okay to cast someone who isn’t Asian, because it’s only mentioned once? NO. Obviously not.
“only mentioned once” There were A LOT of things in this book only mentioned once, yet for everyone else, that seems to have been enough. Yet, not for the ONLY JEW.
Jews do NOT need to prove their worth. They do not need to perform to be Jewish. I wake up in the morning, I take a piss, I eat some cereal, I go to school, I come home, I go to bed. Guess what, I was Jewish that entire time. Nora was Jewish on every page, like it or not.
Them erasing that is erasing an ethnicity, a race, a culture. If you’re Jewish and you’re okay with that… You should think about what that means in a larger context. People are happy about not having a Jew on screen, people would be just as happy not having a Jew as a neighbor, as a friend, as a politician, as whatever. You’ve been convinced that it’s okay to not have a Jew onscreen, because that’s what you’re used to. I know, seeing black people onscreen instead of white guys in blackface was probably a bit of a shock too (sarcasm)— but things change. It’s literally called Jewface, to play a character as a non-Jew. That’s the literal term. If you’re okay with that… You should do some thinking. If you’re okay with not having a Jewish Nora, I wonder what you’re thoughts would’ve been on a non-Hispanic Alex. What if he was a different ethnicity? What if a white guy could play him better? Why are all others worth more than a Jewish life? God, it feels like the ‘40s
Tell me how the ethnicity of the bodyguards are relevant, or the color of Henry’s hair, or the brand of ice cream the boys ate, or the name of the dog, or that there’s even a dog in the first place, or any of that. Tell me how any of that is relevant to the story, but Nora being Jewish isn’t since it’s her literal character the same way that Alex is Mexican, Henry is British, and etc etc etc. Because they kept ALL of that the same (plus other stuff I didn’t feel like listing), yet when it comes to the ethnicity of a Jewish girl… suddenly THAT isn’t relevant, yet a brand of fucking ice cream is. Think about that.
also, here’s my thoughts on CMQ. I think they’re a great writer, I think they don’t understand Jews. They went to a Christian school, they obviously weren’t exposed to Jews (or at least many) during that education. CMQ likely believes Jews to just be white followers of a religion, which isn’t true at all. So they accidentally wrote this incredible Jewish character, who’s Jewishness doesn’t define her like so many Jews in books/media… but then didn’t know how or if they should fight for that onscreen, because if you only think about Jews as white followers of a religion, wouldn’t someone more visibly diverse seem better? Obviously Jews aren’t white, some are white passing, some are Jews of color, there are Jews from all over the world (not just Europe! Not at all!) But I guarantee that CMQ didn’t and maybe still doesn’t know that. She wrote a pretty classic, 22, non-religious, ethnically Jewish girl. But CMQ, due to lack of Jews in the media and overall Jewish education, may not have known enough about Jews to fight for them to have representation… That doesn’t make it okay. And her approval of casting/script came when they were facing a lot of backlash. She couldn’t say it was bad even if she wanted to. But, overall, CMQ likely didn’t fight for Jews because she’s undereducated about them. What would help? MORE JEWS (diverse Jews) IN MOVIES BEING NORMAL
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