Exploring Jewish media presence

Introspection. Historical awareness. Changing identity. No, these are not the mantras from a personal wellness handbook. These are some of the topics touched upon by the upcoming “Acting Jewish” festival, kicking off at the UCLA Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theater on Saturday.

Part of the nation-spanning “Festival of Ideas” hosted by Nextbook ““ an organization that promotes Jewish culture in its various iterations ““ “Acting Jewish” is a multi-faceted event intended to showcase the breadth of Jewish presence in the media.

“The idea (for “˜Acting Jewish’) originally came out of a book by David Mamet called “˜The Wicked Son,'” said Matthew Brogan, program director for Nextbook.

“It’s really about anti-Semitism, but part of it talked about the way that Jews had been represented in film and television. And in reading this short excerpt it gave me the idea of creating a much larger kind of festival with lots of different people talking about how Jews get represented in film, TV, music and comedy.”

Things start off on Saturday, with Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan hosting a double-bill of silent films. D.W Griffith’s “A Child of the Ghetto” and Sidney M. Goldin’s and Ivan Abramson’s “East and West” each delve into Jewish cinematic representation.

“We didn’t just go at random and pick any films. We tried to choose titles that were provocative or interesting as a starting point for a discussion,” said Aaron Paley, president of Community Arts Resources, the Los Angeles-based group responsible for organizing the logistics of the event.

“(With) “˜East and West,’ what’s interesting is that it shows a range of ways on how to be Jewish. We have the all-American girl from New York as well as her relatives back in Europe who are very traditional.”

On Sunday, the proceedings move to the Freud Playhouse and the Macgowan Little Theater on campus at UCLA. Starting at 11 a.m., the day will see eight different panels, held in alternating sessions within the two venues, each presenting a different topic, either through conversations, film clips, music or food.

Several guests will be speaking, including David Mamet, Laura Silverman, Adam Gopkin and Turan, among others.

Josh Kun, professor at the Annenberg School of Communication at USC, is part of the panel focusing on Jewish music. “What is Jewish music?” he asked. “What counts as Jewish musical performance? How can we talk about it? What are some of the big challenges facing the way we talk about Jewish music in the future?”

For Kun, the panel is about incisive inquiry.

“Questioning the stability of what counts as Jewish music is really important,” he said. “How the definition of it has changed over time.”

This preoccupation with time and history is echoed throughout many of the other panels as well as the festival as a whole.

“We want people to see that representing Jews in popular culture started a long time before “˜Seinfeld’ and it has continued past “˜Seinfeld,'” Brogan said.

“People that come to the festival will get to see films maybe they’ve never heard of, talk about Jewish comedians from the ’60s; they’ll learn a lot about things they might not have otherwise known about.”

But therein lies an even deeper concern: What do these media representations signify, and what can they tell about the Jewish ““ or, indeed, any ““ community?

“What we’re asking people to think about is: How does any person or ethnic group get portrayed and what does it mean to make those choices in the media about a people?” Paley said. “What are the choices that Hollywood makes, that writers make, that the radio makes ““ how do they describe you and your culture?”

It is a concern that, ideally, should be universal in its appeal.

“I hope people come in with open minds, interested to learn. This is not just a program for the Jewish audience. This is a subject that should be of interest to anyone because it’s a part of American popular culture,” Brogan said.

He added that, despite all the heady cultural themes, there is some lighthearted entertainment to be had as well.

“It’s also meant to be a fun festival. There’s going to be music, there’s going to be food. It’s meant to be intellectual, but also a lot of fun.”

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