Miriam Heddy's "The Lone Jew In Fandom"
Jan. 17th, 2009 10:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
browngirlI was going to post about the "how to write the Other" discussion going on (posts by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
matociquala and deepad among others) but I hadn't yet compiled an exhaustive list. Then lomedet sent me a link to miriam_heddy's "The Lone Jew in Fandom", about the recent NUMB3RS episode "Arrow of Time" and about the depiction of the Eppes family as Jewish in general, and I found myself considering the discussion from the other side, as it were. This is a situation where I'm a member of the majority, a person benefiting from privilege, and I want to be the kind of ally that I would like others to be to me in the situations where I'm not.
My reply, which I wanted to put here too:
Thank you very much for this post. A friend of mine pointed me to it.
[Paragraph on my perspective, because there always has to be one.] Being a woman of color, I think about discussions like these a lot; I may be over-analogizing, but I feel as if I'm looking at this one from the "other side", not from the POV of a member of a misrepresented minority but from that of a member of the oppressive, privileged majority, one who wants to do what I can to be an active ally or at least not actively contribute to oppression. So I'm thinking of what I want people to do with respect to characters of color, and trying to see how I can do that with respect to Jewish characters.
I was at first delighted by The Arrow of Time because I was delighted to see Don in synagogue. I let that delight blind me to the huge problems in the way that was presented, from the emptiness of the synagogue to its use as the location of a potential shootout (!) -- even setting up that moment at the end where Robin tactitly gives Don her approval of his religious journey doesn't excuse that. I should have seen better before you pointed it out; thank you for saying this, personally because you opened my eyes, but globally because it needed to be said.
I've been thinking about how to write Don and Charlie as Jewish, how to show how their heritage informs every aspect of their lives the way I see it inform my Jewish friends' lives, the way being Black and a former Christian informs my life, the way it *should* if they are to be fully rounded people. This is uncomfortable to say, but that extends to thinking about their relationships. I love Amita, I am delighted to see a woman of color in her role on the show and an interracial relationship presented as a stable and long term one, but I have to consider if her role was taken from a potential Jewish character who should have had a claim to it.
But then, perhaps that very discomfort indicates that I should think about these things.
Thank you for having written this. I've learned a lot from it, both about how to do better by characters I love and the real people they represent, and about how to be true to oneself while being a fan of problematic canon.
PS I realized that "obviously Fallacci's comment was asinine so I won't say anything about it" isn't going to cut it, so I came back to edit my comment. *smile* It struck me as being the same statement people often say about characters of color or LGBT characters, that same 'it doesn't matter' dismissiveness, but that may be my particular lens. Regardless of what it is or isn't like, that statement was certainly *wrong*, and I thought I should at least say so.
Last but not least: yes, I feel weird about posting this on a Saturday morning; I don't want to feel like I'm trying to hide this from people who might have a perspective on it. But I also wanted to write this post while my thoughts were fresh, so.
matociquala and deepad among others) but I hadn't yet compiled an exhaustive list. Then lomedet sent me a link to miriam_heddy's "The Lone Jew in Fandom", about the recent NUMB3RS episode "Arrow of Time" and about the depiction of the Eppes family as Jewish in general, and I found myself considering the discussion from the other side, as it were. This is a situation where I'm a member of the majority, a person benefiting from privilege, and I want to be the kind of ally that I would like others to be to me in the situations where I'm not. My reply, which I wanted to put here too:
Thank you very much for this post. A friend of mine pointed me to it.
[Paragraph on my perspective, because there always has to be one.] Being a woman of color, I think about discussions like these a lot; I may be over-analogizing, but I feel as if I'm looking at this one from the "other side", not from the POV of a member of a misrepresented minority but from that of a member of the oppressive, privileged majority, one who wants to do what I can to be an active ally or at least not actively contribute to oppression. So I'm thinking of what I want people to do with respect to characters of color, and trying to see how I can do that with respect to Jewish characters.
I was at first delighted by The Arrow of Time because I was delighted to see Don in synagogue. I let that delight blind me to the huge problems in the way that was presented, from the emptiness of the synagogue to its use as the location of a potential shootout (!) -- even setting up that moment at the end where Robin tactitly gives Don her approval of his religious journey doesn't excuse that. I should have seen better before you pointed it out; thank you for saying this, personally because you opened my eyes, but globally because it needed to be said.
I've been thinking about how to write Don and Charlie as Jewish, how to show how their heritage informs every aspect of their lives the way I see it inform my Jewish friends' lives, the way being Black and a former Christian informs my life, the way it *should* if they are to be fully rounded people. This is uncomfortable to say, but that extends to thinking about their relationships. I love Amita, I am delighted to see a woman of color in her role on the show and an interracial relationship presented as a stable and long term one, but I have to consider if her role was taken from a potential Jewish character who should have had a claim to it.
But then, perhaps that very discomfort indicates that I should think about these things.
Thank you for having written this. I've learned a lot from it, both about how to do better by characters I love and the real people they represent, and about how to be true to oneself while being a fan of problematic canon.
PS I realized that "obviously Fallacci's comment was asinine so I won't say anything about it" isn't going to cut it, so I came back to edit my comment. *smile* It struck me as being the same statement people often say about characters of color or LGBT characters, that same 'it doesn't matter' dismissiveness, but that may be my particular lens. Regardless of what it is or isn't like, that statement was certainly *wrong*, and I thought I should at least say so.
Last but not least: yes, I feel weird about posting this on a Saturday morning; I don't want to feel like I'm trying to hide this from people who might have a perspective on it. But I also wanted to write this post while my thoughts were fresh, so.
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Date: 2009-01-17 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 02:24 am (UTC)Like I often say to you, that's because you have sense. (The show you're thinking of is Avatar: The Last Airbender, btw) It is incredibly, incredibly insulting to tell us that we can't identify with people who aren't just like us.
*nods in agreement* I cringe when I see Middle Eastern characters stuck in Yet Another Terrorism Plot, too, just as I crnge at Yet Another Black Gang Member or Hispanic Drug Dealer and so on. Plot-by-stereotype is both badly constructed art and full of deleterious real-life consequences.
I think it would be so wonderful if some show some time had a very multicultural cast (sort of like Heroes or Lost the first season(s) before they killed off almost all the POC and focused on the white characters primarily) but with a genuine desire to make everyone well-rounded and a product of where they came from as well as how they fit into the world around them.
I would ADORE this. I'd hoped Heroes would be this, but alas.