I grew up watching episodes here and there of Beverly Hills 90210, My So Called Life, Party of Five, and Dawson’s Creek, but in my early 20s when these shows started becoming available on DVD, I began consuming teen dramas with a passion. This obsession continues to this day; at age 39 I still find great value in the genre. Thanks to streaming I can now relive the nostalgia of my youth whenever I want, cringe at and analyze the things that didn’t age well, and compare and contrast contemporary shows to their predecessors - it’s become a hobby at this point. But recently, I’ve been exploring a new avenue of my teen drama obsession: Jewish representation within the genre.
You all know by now that I love definitions, and to fully understand this topic, we first need to define some terms and explain some common Jewish stereotypes. While not inherently negative on their own, these stereotypes are often rooted in antisemitism.
First, a stereotype is an oversimplified idea or belief, often unfair and untrue, about a group of people based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender, etc.
When a character is “Jew-coded” or “ambiguously Jewish” they are not explicitly stated to be Jewish but are portrayed with stereotypical Jewish characteristics such as being rich, being neurotic, using Yiddish, having curly hair, or having a Jewish-sounding last name. Ambiguously Jewish characters may also be played by Jewish actors. Some examples include Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City and Cher Horowitz in Clueless.
Young Jewish women are often portrayed as the “Jewish American Princess” - a rich, privileged, spoiled brat. They’re often highly educated, a “daddy’s girl,” and/or obsessed with finding a rich husband to maintain their affluent lifestyle. Jewish women, and Jewish mothers in particular, are often portrayed in media as being loud, rude, abrasive, and overbearing.
Conversely, Jewish men are often portrayed as nerdy, awkward, and subordinate. They are rarely the “cool” or “sexy” character; more often they’re effeminate and bookish instead of muscular or athletic. Regardless of gender, Jews (and Jew-coded characters) are very often written as “neurotic” - overly anxious, obsessive, and irrational.
These depictions of Jewish characters are often in stark contrast to their non-Jewish counterparts. A few examples include Rory and Paris in Gilmore Girls, Ryan and Seth in The OC, and Jordan and Brian in My So Called Life. And Jews are not immune from perpetuating these stereotypes - all three of these shows were created by Jewish people! My personal theory is this stems from a mixture of self-deprecating humor, internalized antisemitism, and assimilation. We live in a world steeped in antisemitism and, consciously or unconsciously, Jewish creators are working within this framework when creating these characters. This doesn’t mean their work can’t be critiqued, or that we can’t do better in the future, but does serve to contextualize the issue.
There are far more Jewish stereotypes than I touched on here, but these are the ones I’ve found most relevant within the genre of television teen dramas. As I cover individual shows, I will be rating them based on the following criteria:
has Jewish characters
has non-stereotypical Jewish characters
has Jewish actors
has Jewish characters played by Jewish actors
has Jewish creators
depicts Jewish culture
You can read my first post on My So Called Life here!
Sources:
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