Course Description:
     This course will examine representations of Jews in American popular media from the birth of the motion picture through the age of television. It will also examine the role Jews themselves played in the entertainment industry and how film and television provided them with an arena in which they could work out important questions of American Jewish identity. Specific topics will include antisemitism in early film shorts, the significance of the Hollywood "moguls," the connection between acculturation and Jewish humor, Jews and blackface minstrelsy, representations of gender and relationships between Jewish men and women, ethnic imagery in the television sitcom, and the presentation of the Holocaust in film and on television.

Texts:
     J. Hoberman and Jeffrey Shandler's Entertaining America: Jews, Movies and Broadcasting is available for purchase at the Emory book store. Aside from this one book, most of the readings for the course are articles available on e-reserve through Woodruff Library. These can be accessed by visiting the course webpage at http://userwww.service.emory.edu/%7Eegoldst/Media.htm and clicking on the respective links. In case the website is not functioning properly, all online readings can also be accessed from the EUCLID wesite by clicking on the "Reserve Direct" button at the top of the screen, and entering in your library username and password. You should then be able to choose from the reserves for the classes for which you are registered.

Required screenings and absences:
     In the interest of confining almost all required viewing to class hours, there will be only one required viewing in the evening - Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, which would be difficult to fit even into two class periods. In general, we will view films and television shows on Tuesdays, and concentrate our discussion of those media on Thursdays (although we will also watch short clips on Thursdays that will help further our discussions). Because viewing the films and shows for the class is essential, you will need to view them on your own in case of absence. In the event that you miss a film or show shown on a Tueday, please complete the weekly questions in writing and make special reference to the missed film/show as a means of making up the work for the missed class. These films/shows are on reserve and can be viewed at the Music-Media Center at Woodruff Library. All titles are on two-hour reserve and can be viewed with earphones on the relevant equiptment.

Course Requirements and Grading:
    Because we only meet twice a week and we do a lot of viewing in class, attendance is vital to your success in this course. Therefore, more than two absences will affect your final grade (see percentages below). Students are expected to arrive each week with a thorough knowledge of the required readings (discussions of the readings are usually on Thursdays). In preparation for discussion each week, students should answer the weekly questions, which are provided on the syllabus, in writing (two thoughtful paragraphs should suffice). The paragraphs will be discussed in class. On four occasions, you will be asked to answer one of the questions in a two-page essay. Towards the end of the course, students will begin working on an individual project in which they will analyze a film or television show of their choice. The results of this analysis will form the basis of a final paper of 10-12 pages, as well as a short in-class presentation where you will have the opportunity to share clips of your material with the rest of the class. The final grades will be determined as follows:

Attendance and Participation: 30%
Short assignments: 35%
Final paper and presentation: 35%

Course schedule:

January 17
Introduction: American Jews, Identity and the Visual image

January 21 - 24
Jews and the Movies: Origins
Viewing:
• The Great Train Robbery (1903, 10 min.)
• Cohen's Advertising Scheme (1904, 1 min.)
• Cohen's Fire Sale (1907, 10 min.)

Reading (for discussion on Jan. 24):
• Hoberman and Shandler, Entertaining America, 15-33.
• Elizabeth Ewen, "City Lights," in Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars

Questions:
Why did movies--even in their primitive forms in the nickelodeons--have such a special appeal for working-class immigrants, and particularly Eastern European Jews, when they first appeared? Give at least three examples. Why did Jews come to be so prominent in this business, both as owners of theaters and later as film producers?

January 28 - 31
The Age of the "Moguls"
Viewing:
• Hollywoodism (100 min., over two class sessions)

Reading (for discussion on Jan. 31):
• Hoberman and Shandler, Entertaining America, 45-67, 69-70.

Questions:
How did the Jewish entrepreneurs who opened movie studios in the early twentieth century differ in the outlook and approach from the Protestant elites like Edison who had founded the industry? What is the connection between the image of America created by the Hollywood "moguls" and their own life experiences? To what extent do you think Jewish identity or a Jewish past helped shape the movies they created? Do you agree with the thesis of the film Hollywoodism? In addition to thinking about these questions, be ready to analyze the documents on pages 51-53 of Entertaining America in class.

February 5 - 7
Racial Masquerade and Jewish Identity
Viewing:
• The Jazz Singer (1927, 89 min., over two class sessions)

Reading (for discussion on Feb. 7):
• Hoberman and Shandler, Entertaining America, 77-99.
• Michael Rogin, "Racial Masquerade and Ethnic Assimilation in the Transition to Talking Pictures," in Blackface/White Noise
• Hasia Diner, "Trading Faces," in Common Quest

Questions:
How do the various authors differ in their interpretation of the blackface phenomenon among Jews? Based on your reading, what do you think were the motivations of Jews who performed and produced this kind of entertainment and those who enthusiastically consumed it?

February 12 - 14
Yiddish Film in America
Viewing:
• Uncle Moses (1932, 87 min., over two class sessions)

Reading (for discussion on Feb. 14):
• Joseph Cohen, "Yiddish Film and the American Immigrant Experience," in Joseph Meets Molly
• Eric A. Goldman, "The Jazz Singer and its Reaction in the Yiddish Cinema," in Joseph Meets Molly
• Hannah Berliner Fischthal, "Uncle Moses," in Joseph Meets Molly

Questions:
How do the themes in American Yiddish film differ from the themes in mainstream American (English-language) film? Give evidence from the films we have viewed (including Uncle Moses) to support your thesis.

February 19 - 21
Jewish Humor: An Anatomy
Viewing:
• Annie Hall (1977, 90 min., over two class periods)
• Excerpts from various Marx Brothers films (in class on Feb. 21)

Reading (for discussion on Feb. 21):
• Esther Romeyn and Jack Kugelmass, "The Nature of Jewish Humor," in Let There be Laughter
• Daniel Lieberfeld and Judith Sanders, "Here Under False Pretenses: The Marx Brothers Crash the Gates"

Questions:
According to Romeyn and Kugelmass, what defines Jewish humor? What is "Jewish" about the humor of Woody Allen or the Marx Brothers?

February 26 - 28
Jews and Early TV
Viewing/Listening:
• Episode of Molly
• The Two Thousand Year Old Man (Brooks and Reiner)

Reading (for discussion on Feb. 28):
• Hoberman and Shandler, Entertaining America, 113-127.
• Romeyn and Kugelmass, "Television: The Return of Jewish Comics," in Let There Be Laughter
• Donald Weber, "The Jewish-American World of Gertrude Berg"

Questions:
Why was early TV so conducive to shows with heavy ethnic content? Why did these shows appeal to many Americans? What changes in the industry helped lead to their decline?

March 4 - 6
The Jewish "Problem" Film and the Vanishing Jew
Viewing:
Gentleman's Agreement (1947, 118 min., over two class periods)

Reading (for discussion on Mar. 6):
• Hoberman and Shandler, Entertaining America, 68 (page on Crossfire).
• Henry Popkin, "The Vanishing Jew of Our Popular Culture" (in Hoberman and Shandler, 136-143).
• Sam Levenson, "The Dialect Comedian Should Vanish"

Questions:
What did Henry Popkin mean by the "Vanishing Jew" of America's popular culture when he was writing in 1952? What changes were taking place in American life that caused this "vanishing" act? Why do you think Jews like Popkin and Levenson were divided on the issue of Jewish imagery in popular culture?

March 11 - 13
NO CLASS - SPRING BREAK

March 18 - 20
Jewish Women/Jewish Men: Gender and Relationships
Viewing:
• Crossing Delancey (1988, 97 min., over two class periods)

Reading (for discussion on Mar. 20):
• Marlene Adler Marks, "Our Televisions, Ourselves"
• Maurice Berger, "The Mouse that Never Roars: Jewish Masculinity on American Television"
• Joseph Greenblum, "Does Hollywood Still Glorify Jewish Intermarriage?"

Questions:
What are the particular stereotypes that have been/are applied to Jewish men and women in America's visual culture? How are relationships between Jewish men and women portrayed, and how have they changed over time? (or have they?)

March 24 - 27
Screening the Holocaust
Viewing:
• Schindler's List (1993, 195 min., Evening showing, time TBA)

Reading:
• Hoberman and Shandler, Entertaining America, 258-263.
• Jeffrey Shandler, "This is Your Life" in While America Watches: Televising the Holocaust
• Omer Bartov, "Spielberg's Oskar: Hollywood Tries Evil," in Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List

Questions:
What problems arise in trying to depict the events of the Holocaust on television or in film? How and why have portrayals of the Holocaust changed since the 1950s? Are there any elements that have remained the same?

April 1 - 3
Too Jewish?: The Transformation of the Sitcom Jew
Viewing:
• Excerpts of various sitcoms (suggestions and contributions welcome)

Reading:
• Terry Barr, "Stars, Light, and Finding the Way Home: Jewish Characters in Contemporary Film and Television"
• Norma Lee Mandel, "Who's Jewish on Friends?"
• Joyce Antler, "Too Jewish or Not Jewish Enough?"

Questions:
Are today's television producers more comfortable with presenting images of Jews on sitcoms today than they have been in the past? To what extent do you still see some trepidation about characters being "out" as Jewish on TV? Give some examples from contemporary television shows to support your argument.

April 8-10
Student Presentations

April 14-17
Student Presentations

April 21-24
NO CLASS THIS WEEK SO THAT YOU M AY CONCENTRATE ON FINISHING YOUR PROJECTS
Papers Due in the Jewish Studies Office (204 Candler Library) no later than 5:00pm on Monday, April 28