Millennial Jewish Stars
Navigating Racial Antisemitism, Masculinity, and White Supremacy
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Millennial Jewish Stars
Navigating Racial Antisemitism, Masculinity, and White Supremacy
About this book
Highlights how millennial Jewish stars symbolize national politics in US media
Jewish stars have longed faced pressure to downplay Jewish identity for fear of alienating wider audiences. But unexpectedly, since the 2000s, many millennial Jewish stars have won stellar success while spotlighting (rather than muting) Jewish identity. In Millennial Jewish Stars, Jonathan Branfman asks: what makes these explicitly Jewish stars so unexpectedly appealing? And what can their surprising success tell us about race, gender, and antisemitism in America? To answer these questions, Branfman offers case studies on six top millennial Jewish stars: the biracial rap superstar Drake, comedic rapper Lil Dicky, TV comedy duo Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, "man-baby" film star Seth Rogen, and chiseled film star Zac Efron.
Branfman argues that despite their differences, each star's success depends on how they navigate racial antisemitism: the historical notion that Jews are physically inferior to Christians. Each star especially navigates racial stigmas about Jewish masculinity—stigmas that depict Jewish men as emasculated, Jewish women as masculinized, and both as sexually perverse. By embracing, deflecting, or satirizing these stigmas, each star comes to symbolize national hopes and fears about all kinds of hot-button issues. For instance, by putting a cuter twist on stereotypes of Jewish emasculation, Seth Rogen plays soft man-babies who dramatize (and then resolve) popular anxieties about modern fatherhood. This knack for channeling national dreams and doubts is what makes each star so unexpectedly marketable.
In turn, examining how each star navigates racial antisemitism onscreen makes it easier to pinpoint how antisemitism, white privilege, and color-based racism interact in the real world. Likewise, this insight can aid readers to better notice and challenge racial antisemitism in everyday life.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Introduction: Getting Racy
- 1. Drake’s Jewish Pickle: Chameleonic Minstrelsy, Detachable Judaism, and Black Violability
- 2. “Redpill Me on Lil Dicky”: Vicarious Jewface and “Soft” Deplorable Satire
- 3. Ecstatic Jewessface: Blending Feminist, Queer, and Racist/Antiracist Fantasies with Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer
- 4. Boys Just Want to Have Fun? Seth Rogen’s Beta Male Patriarchy, Post-Meninist Violence, and Fun Fatherhood
- 5. From Blue-Eyed Demon to Nice Jew-ish Goy: Zac Efron’s “Goyface” as Sexy Abject Hegemony
- Conclusion: Tools for the Road
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
- About the Author