{"id":101922,"date":"2023-02-05T17:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-05T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=101922"},"modified":"2023-02-04T09:40:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T07:40:12","slug":"10-05-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=101922","title":{"rendered":"Netflix Film \u2018You People\u2019 Accused of \u2018Erasing the Jewish Perspective\u2019 in Its \u2018Disappointing\u2019 Portrayal of Jews"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Netflix Film \u2018You People\u2019 Accused of \u2018Erasing the Jewish Perspective\u2019 in Its \u2018Disappointing\u2019 Portrayal of Jews<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Shiryn Ghermezian<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Jonah Hill and Lauren London in You People. Photo: YouTube screenshot<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The new film\u00a0You People<\/em>\u00a0that debuted on Netflix last week is being accused of perpetuating anti-Jewish stereotypes and conspiracy theories as well as antisemitism in its portrayal of the Jewish community.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Kenya Barris\u2013directed movie, released on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jewish actor Jonah Hill stars as Ezra Cohen, a Jewish man who gets in a romantic relationship with Amira Mohammed, a Black Muslim woman played by actress\u00a0Lauren London<\/a>, whose father is Jewish. They decide to get married but their relationship is put to the test because of their families contrasting cultures and the many stereotypical opinions they have about each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film was also co-written and co-produced by Hill. It stars Eddie Murphy and Nia Long as Black Muslim parents, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and David Duchovny as Hill\u2019s Jewish parents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn\u00a0<\/span>You<\/span>\u00a0People<\/span><\/em>, the \u2018<\/span>Jew\u2019<\/span>\u00a0is presented as \u2018rich\u2019 & \u2018white,\u2019 erasing the experiences of Black, Asian, Persian, Mizrahi, Sephardic, and the millions of\u00a0<\/span>Jews<\/span>\u00a0who are not remotely \u2018rich.\u2019 Its lame stereotypes about\u00a0<\/span>Jews<\/span>\u00a0will fuel\u00a0<\/span>#antisemitism,\u201d Daniel Koren, executive director of Hasbara Canada,\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

British comedian David Baddiel, who is the author of\u00a0Jews Don\u2019t Count<\/em>,\u00a0tweeted<\/a>\u00a0last week that\u00a0You People<\/em>\u00a0is a \u201cJews Don\u2019t Count fest.\u201d He said, \u201cThe Jewish family are positioned as white, privileged and racist. The Black family just have a stern dad. At the end there\u2019s much Jewish apologizing for racism. None for antisemitism. That word never appears.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In one scene in the film, Murphy\u2019s Muslim character says, \u201cI don\u2019t turn in the news everyday and see people in yarmulkes getting shot by police because they was out minding their business.\u201d David Bashevkin, the director of education for the Jewish youth group NCSY, said that is completely false and \u201cvery disappointing\u201d to see in the movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u00a0tweeted:<\/a>\u00a0\u201cPeople in Yarmulkes who are minding their business are constantly targeted w violence. Maybe not by police. But they are targeted \u2026 the scene\u2019s dialogue framed Jewish targeted oppression as something of the past while only Black oppression is ongoing. And the movie never corrects that premise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The film\u2019s Muslim family are also devotees of Nation of Islam leader and notorious antisemite Louis Farrakhan, who has\u00a0a history<\/a>\u00a0of making derogatory comments about Jews and questioning the Holocaust. Other issues that Jewish supporters on social media have had with the film is its suggestion that Jews majorly profited from slavery in the US and its Holocaust jokes. When Hill\u2019s Jewish character buys his fiancee a ring with a small diamond, he decides to tell her it once belonged to his grandmother and is from the Holocaust, so she will not question its size.<\/span><\/p>\n

Allison Josephs, \u00a0the founder and executive director of the non-profit Jew in the City, talked on\u00a0NewsNation<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on Thursday about the film\u2019s \u201cproblematic\u201d depiction of Jews and how \u201cthe premise of the movie is that everybody loves Black culture \u2026 and everyone in the film hates Jewish culture.\u201d She specifically addressed the movie\u2019s opening scene \u2014 Yom Kippur prayer services attended by Hill and his family \u2014 where \u201ceverybody is a pervert, and super off and weird,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou see rich Jews, Jews guilting people, and that\u2019s just kind of the cheap shots,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere it gets dangerous is when Farrakhan-esque tropes and conspiracy theories get added in. Like Jews profited off the slave trade in some sort of outnumbered way. [Or] this accusation that Jews were professionals all the way back \u2026 No, Jews came here running from Nazis, running from being exiled in the Middle East, penniless, facing every type of persecution. There was segregation in this country. My father went to a pool that said no Blacks, no dogs, no Jews allowed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She accused the film of \u201ccompletely erasing\u201d Jewish history and the \u201cJewish perspective.\u201d She said that because it was co-created by Hill, who is Jewish himself, people might believe that gives the film some leeway to make jokes about Jews.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, she explained: \u201cThe Nazis used propaganda to shift people\u2019s perspective about the Jewish community and things that start off as funny jokes and \u2018haha, can\u2019t you just take a joke and have humor\u2019 \u2014 when you slip conspiracy theories; when you erase a person\u2019s identity; when there\u2019s persecution in the past and present, and you replace that with whiteness and privilege and wealth when the story is so much more complicated, people have no idea what we\u2019re facing right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Watch the trailer for\u00a0You People<\/em>\u00a0below.\u00a0Note: the video includes profanities<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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