Jews on Screen: Cohen's Fire Sale (1907) to Coen Brothers (2009)

NEJS 181A Spring Semester 2014

Jews On Screen: Cohen's Fire Sale (1907) To Coen Brothers (2009)

Sharon Pucker Rivo x 68658

TA - TBA

Tuesday 2:00 PM–4:50 PM

Thursday 5:00 PM–5:50 PM Mandel Ctr for Humanities

One semester survey course focusing on moving images of Jews and Jewish life.

Since the creation of moving images at the end of the 19th century, Jewish

characters, themes, life and customs have been depicted in a wide range of

films. This course explores depictions of Jews in fiction and documentary

films, from early silent shorts to contemporary world cinema.

The course will also provide an opportunity to meet with new independent filmmakers whose latest works will premiere at Jewishfilm.2014 The National Center for Jewish Film’s 17 th Annual Film Festival.

Format: Each week is devoted to a specific topic with a Tuesday afternoon screening and lecture followed by a Thursday follow up discussion. Attendance is required at all screenings and lectures. Students will be responsible for all of the required reading; all books and articles will be available at the library reserve desk and on-line through LATTE. DVDS of most films will be available in the Reserve Room of the Library.

Grades: Midterm grades will be determined by a short paper (topic to be approved) plus an in-class essay. Intermittently during the course, there will be a number of short film critiques. The final will consist of a term paper. Depending upon the size of the class and the progress of the course, a final exam (consisting of 3 essay questions based on the screenings and readings) may be given.

Week l Introduction - What is a Jewish Film?

Jan 14 Tues Screen: Advice and Dissent (2002), Leib Cohen, USA 21 minutes

Orders of Love, (2004) Jes Benstock, UK, 10 minutes

Stephen Whitfield, Making Fragmentation Familiar:

Barry Levinson’s Avalon”

Introduction to film terminology - glossary of terms (Bordwell)

Jan 16 Thur Impact of Images

Week 2 American Silent Films

Jan 21 Tues Screen: Screen: Hungry Hearts (1922)

Read: Yezierska, Hungry Hearts short stories “Hunger” and “Lost Beautifulness”, pp 35-96 and “Where Lovers Dream” pp 142-163.

“Projected Images: Portraits of Jewish Women in Early American Film”, by Sharon Pucker Rivo in Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in American Popular Culture. pp 30-49.

Jan 23 Thur Screen: Ellis Island (1903 & 1906) Ghetto Fishmarket (1903),

Cohen’s Advertising Scheme (1904) and Cohen’s Fire Sale (1907)

Cohen on the Telephone (1929)

Read: Sachar Chapter 15 on Immigration pp 359 - 381

Week 3 American Early Sound Films - Assimilation & Acculturation

Jan 28 Tues Screen: The Jazz Singer (1927)

Read: Hoberman chapter 9 “Making it in America” pp 113-121

Cripps, “The Movie Jew as an Image of Assimilationism, 1903- 1927” Journal of Popular Film Vol IV, No 3, 1975 pp 190-207

Sachar Chap 16 pp 382 - 413

Saposnik, “Jolson, the Jazz Singer and the Jewish Mother” Judaism . Fall 1994 pp 432 - 442

“Day of Atonement” by Sampson Raphaelson, in The Jazz Singer by Robert Carringer, pp 147-167.

Jan 30 Thur Screen: Child of the Ghetto (1910) & write critique of Child of the Ghetto

Week 4 Russian Jewish Cinema

Feb 4 Tues Screen: Jewish Luck (1925) (Piano Robert Humphreyville)

Read: Hoberman Chapter 1 pp 13-23 & Chap 7 pp 87-101.

Sholom Aleichem, The Adventures of Menahem Mendl pp 187-208.

View Fiddler on the Roof for next week class

Feb 6 Thur Images of Pre-World War II European Jews

Home movies, newsreels, travelogs: Horodok, Nowogrodek,

Week 5 Yiddish Cinema – Introduction to Yiddish Film

Feb 11 Tues Tevye (1939)

Read: Sholem Aleichem, Tevye The Dairyman Chap 3, 4, 5, 8

Compare “Chava” story, Tevye and Fiddler on the Roof

Feb 13 Thur no class

Week 6 Vacation week Feb 14 to 21

View Gentleman’s Agreement

Week 7 Yiddish Cinema - The Golden Age of Yiddish Film

Feb 25 Tues The Dybbuk (1937)

The most widely produced play in the history of Jewish theater.

Read: S. Ansky, The Dybbuk and Other Writings (ed Roskies)

Hoberman, Bridge of Light - Intro pp 3-11 & Chap 20 pp 275 - 285

Feb 27 Thur quiz and discussion of The Dybbuk – be sure to read the play.

Week 8 Hollywood

Mar 4 Tues Screen: Hollywoodism (1998)

Read: Whitfield, “Our American Jewish Heritage: The Hollywood Version” American Jewish History Vol 75 No 3 March 1986 pp 322-340.

Gabler, An Empire of Their Own, pp 1- 7

Mar 6 Thurs Sons of Liberty (1939) Warner Bros & Doherty book

Mar 7 Fri midterm grades due

Week 9 Hollywood continued

Mar 11 Tues Images of Jewish Power in Hollywood films

Mar 13 Thur Barry Levinson

Diner (1982) to Avalon (1990) to Liberty Heights (1999)

Week 10 Hollywood continued

Mar 18 Tues Humor - From Max Davidson to Woody Allen and Mel Brooks

Screen: Crimes and Misdemeanors (1990) Woody Allen

Mar 20 Thur Max Davidson and Mel Brooks

Week 11 Hollywood continued

Mar 25 Tues Screen: A Serious Man (2009) – Coen Brothers

Read: A Serious Film by Ruth R. Wisse, Commentary, December 2009

Mar 27 Thur Jewishfilm.2014

Week 12 Independent Cinema - Documentaries

Apr 1 Tues Trembling Before God (2001)

Apr 3 Thur Animation – The Hangman

Week 13 Israeli film

Apr 8 Tues Israeli features from Sallah (1961) to God’s Neighbors (2012)

Apr 10 Thur Israeli documentary – Green Dumpster Mystery (2008)

Week 14 Passover vacation week April 15 & 17

Week 15 Passover Tuesday 22nd

Apr 24 Thurs Punk Jews (2012)

Week 16 Last class

Apr 29 Tues TBA

**All Seniors – final papers due** All students - critques due

May 9 Friday *****final papers due*****

Required reading: On sale at bookstore and on reserve at the Library

Books – Purchase at Bookstore or The Strand or Amazon

J. Hoberman, Bridge of Light:Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds, UPNE 2011. ISBN 9 78184 658702 (selected chapters).

Anzia Yezierska, Hungry Hearts, Penguin/20th Century Classics, 1997 (3 short stories)

The Dybbuk & Other Writings , ed Roskies, Yale University Press, 2002.

Sholem Aleichem, Tevye The Dairyman and the Railroad Stories, trans Hillel Halkin,

Random House, 1996.

Howard M. Sachar, The Course of Modern Jewish History, Random House, 1990. selected chapters

Reader - on reserve and on line-password-Dybbuk

D. Bordwell & K Thompson Film Art: An Introduction, glossary pp 492-497.

Joyce Antler, Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in American Popular Culture,,article by Sharon P Rivo, “Projected Images: Portraits of Jewish Women in Early American Film”, pp 30 - 49.

Sholom Aleichem, The Adventures of Menahem Mendl pp 187-208.

Thomas Cripps, “The Movie Jew as an Image of Assimilationism, 1903- 1927” Journal of Popular Film Vol IV, No3, 1975 pp 190-207

Desser and Friedman, American-Jewish Filmmakers, Univ of Illinois Press, Urbana & Chicago, 2004 paperback isbn 0-252-07153-0

Irv Saposnik, “Jolson, the Jazz Singer and the Jewish Mother”Judaism . Fall 1994 pp 432 - 442

Sampson Raphaelson,“Day of Atonement” in The Jazz Singer edited by Robert Carringer, pp 147-167.

Neal Gabler, An Empire of Their Own, pp 1- 7

Stephen J. Whitfield, “Our American Jewish Heritage: The Hollywood Version,

American Jewish History, March 1986 pp 322-340.

Ruth R. Wisse, “A Serious Film” Commentary, December 2009

Additional Books on Reserve at Brandeis Library for NEJS 190B

(not required but available for research and background)

Sholom Aleichem The Adventures of Menahem-Mendl Paragon Books 1979

D. Bordwell & K Thompson Film Art: An Introduction Mcgraw Hill,Inc 1993

Kevin Brownlow Behind the Mask of Innocence Univ of California Press1990

R. L. Carringer, ed The Jazz Singer Univ of Wisconsin Press1979

Sarah Blacher Cohen From Hester Street to Hollywood Indiana Univ Press 1986

Patricia Erens The Jew in American Cinema Indiana Univ Press 1984

Desser and Friedman American-Jewish Filmmakers, Univ of Illinois Press 2004

Lester D. Friedman Hollywood's Image of the Jew Frederick Unger Press 1983

Lester D. Friedman Unspeakable Images: Ethnicity & the American Cinema Univ Ill Press 1991

Neal Gabler Empire of Their Own Crown Publishing 1988

Vicki Goldberg The Power of Photography Abbeville Press 1991

Annette Insdorf Indelible Shadows Cambridge Univ Press 1989

Amy Kronish World Cinema: Israel Associated Univ Press 1996

Robert A. Rosenstone Visions of the Past: The Challenge of Film to our Idea of History, Harvard Univ Press 1995

Ella Shohat Israeli Cinema Univ of Texas Press 1989

Steven J. Whitfield American Space, Jewish Time Archon Books 1988

Anzia Yezierska Red Ribbon on A White Horse, Persea Press 1987

Journals on Reserve

American Jewish History Vol 67, No 4 (June 1979) p 517 to 533

Vol 72 No.1 (Sept 1982) p 6 to 25.

Vol 75, No 3 (March 1986) p 322 to 340

Judaism Vol 43, Number 4, Fall 1994 p 432 - 442

Jewish Social Studies Vol V 1&2 Fall 1998/Winter 1999

Pamphlets and Articles on Reserve

NCJF - Study guide for The Dybbuk and Tevye

Stephen J. Whitfield, “Yentl”in Jewish Social Studies, Vol V 1&2 Fall 1998/Winter 1999.

Marcia Pally, “Kaddish for the Fading Image of Jews in Film”, Film Comment. Vol 20 #1, Jan-Feb 1984, pp 49 to 55.

Our Time in the Garden (1981) Ron Blau , USA 15 minutes