Posted on 10/06/2024 7:42:07 PM PDT by nickcarraway
"I really wanted to shed a positive light on Jewish culture"
Nobody Wants This creator Erin Foster has defended the show after it was criticised for its negative portrayal of Jewish women.
The new Netflix romantic-comedy series, which centres on a relationship between a rabbi (Adam Brody) and a sex podcaster (Kristen Bell), has come under fire since its release on September 26. In response, Foster said the show’s goal was to “shed a positive light on Jewish culture from my perspective”.
Among the critics was Glamour senior west coast editor Jessica Radloff, who published an essay titled ‘Netflix’s Nobody Wants This and the Persistent Jewish Stereotype’. In the article, she wrote that the show’s Jewish characters “come off as controlling, marriage-hungry women who want to plan dinner parties and alienate anyone who doesn’t share those same dreams.”
Radloff also took issue with the show’s opening episode for a scene in which Brody’s character’s mother refers to Bell’s character as a “shiksa,” a derogatory term for a non-Jewish woman.
“This scene at the temple is the exact opposite of what we Jews are taught to do — welcome thy neighbor,” Radloff wrote. “At a time when antisemitism is at the highest levels we’ve seen since the Holocaust, scenes like this hit me hard.”
Time magazine’s review of the series also called out the show’s “mean-spirited depiction of Jewish women,” adding: “The series seems to loathe Jewish women, who are portrayed as nags, harpies, and the ultimate villains of this story.”
Responding to the criticism, Foster said (via Variety): “I think we need positive Jewish stories right now. I think it’s interesting when people focus on, ‘Oh, this is a stereotype of Jewish people,’ when you have a rabbi as the lead. A hot, cool, young rabbi who smokes weed. That’s the antithesis of how people view a Jewish rabbi, right?”
Foster added: “If I made the Jewish parents, like, two granola hippies on a farm, then someone would write, ‘I’ve never met a Jewish person like that before. You clearly don’t know how to write Jewish people, you don’t know what you’re doing, and that doesn’t represent us well.’”
The creator stressed that “what I really wanted to do was shed a positive light on Jewish culture from my perspective — my positive experience being brought into Jewish culture, sprinkling in a little fun, [and] educational moments.”
Netflix has not yet confirmed whether the show will return for a second season, but with the first being left on a major cliffhanger, it seems another run of episodes could be likely.
All 10 episodes of the first season are now available on the streaming service.
Everybody take a chill pill.
very happy to longer have a subscription to Netflix
What an utterly disgusting ill-conceived slur on the portrayal of a rabbi. Those rabbis I know, young and old, are men who walk with G-d. Their every word and action is guided by Jewish law. They are wonders in knowing Torah, Jewish law, and humanity. I have had very close, warm friendships with various rabbis and their wives. They certainly don’t use drugs or have relationships with non-Jewish women, nor any sort of improper relationship with a Jewish woman. They are not even allowed to be alone in a room with the door shut with a woman not their wife, mother, or sister! This writer is a worse influence than a pestilent disease, and Netflix should be sued for character defamation.
This is a good reason to never subscribe to Netflix.
First things first, the Jewish line is passed on through the mother according to some branches of Judaism, so it would make perfect sense for a devout, Jewish mother to want only a devout Jewish girl for her son.
As a devout Christian, I am hoping my children will marry devout Christians, too.
Shiksa is Yiddish for non-jewish girl. Shegetz is the term, I believe, for a non-jewish man. Given the Jewish history of persecution by outside cultures, it is not surprising on an instinctual level that worried parents would eschew someone from outside their religion.
What a lot of people don’t understand is that being a Jew is not just a religion; language, culture, faith, social norms, modes of behavior, and an epic history are all part of their identity.
Finally, Conservative and Orthodox Jews are highly educated, scholars of religious text (particularly rabbis), and will not be moved from their path. Contemporary rabbis (Jinos), like faux catholic priests, are pretenders. The majority of Jewish people that I know are smart, hardworking, highly ethical people.
The wackos in Hollywood, like all other stripes of wackos in Hollywood, do not represent Judaism. Back when I worked for the National Council of Synagogue Youth arranging Shabbatons, almost every issue they were concerned with were things non-Jewish parents were concerned with: safety, cultural rot, attacks on religion.
Not surprising that Hollywood would bash Jews. Unless they are going over Holocaust material, most depictions of traditional Jews, like those of Conservative Christians, is negative.
Another garbage series I won’t watch.
Of course what else would you expect from Netflix, edification and nuance? Netflix in general is an open sewer where people go to watch the leftists turds float by.
I watched it and found it compatible with the issues it covered in my relationships. The rabbi was modern and clearly reform although I did not see this in the show. I know that reform families can be Jewish via the maternal or paternal route provided the children are rasied to be Jewish, so the older more orthodox rules for maternal lineage are not required at the reform level.
I have seen marriages where the mates were separate religions and stayed that was. I don’t think this is the best way to form a marriage and certainly not for a rabbi. So conversion needs to be discussed, which was a part of the show. I will not go on, because I don’t like to spoil any show.
This is a rare unforced error from Hollywood. They should know by now that it is only acceptable to portray white Christian people in negative light.
50 years ago BRIDGET LOVES BERNIE was canceled because jews and catholics disliked the concept.
A psychiatrist acquaintance from NYC referred to my daughter datng a Jewish boy in college as”shiksas are for practice.”
Arrogant bastard.
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