Keynote Address: “Cops and Criminals: Jews in Twenty-First Century Film and Television”

Abrams, N. (Speaker)

School of Arts, Culture and Language

Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation

Description

Hayim Nahman Bialik, the famed Hebrew poet, said during the 1920s that the Jews would know that their dream of a nation-state had been fulfilled when there were Jewish prostitutes, Jewish thieves, and a Jewish police force. The world of film and television has realized this dream as it depicts Jews on both sides of the law, both as criminals and crime preventers. Since Jews were historically involved in gangsterism, including Ace Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, Dutch Schultz, and Bugsy Siegel, and, more recently, Bernie Madoff, Harvey Weinstein, and Jeffrey Epstein, they have also long been represented in film, both in terms of feature film and documentary. On the other side of the law, the world of the police is perceived as one that excludes Jews. Back in 1944, German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote of “the traditional Jewish fear of the ‘cop’ – that seeming incarnation of a hostile world.” But that hasn’t stopped their fictional representation on film and television. This paper will provide an illustrated discussion of twenty-first century representations of Jewish criminals and police in a variety of contexts (film and television) and locations.

Period	23 Oct 2022
Event title	34th Annual Symposium on Jewish Civilization: Chronicling Jews and Crime: From Law-Makers to Law-Breakers
Event type	Conference
Location	Omaha, United StatesShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International

Documents & Links

Hayim Nahman Bialik, the famed Hebrew poet, said during the 1920s that the Jews would know that their dream of a nation-state had been fulfilled when there were Jewish prostitutes, Jewish thieves, and a Jewish police force. The world of film and television has realized this dream as it depicts Jews on both sides of the law, both as criminals and crime preventers. Since Jews were historically involved in gangsterism, including Ace Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, Dutch Schultz, and Bugsy Siegel, and, more recently, Bernie Madoff, Harvey Weinstein, and Jeffrey Epstein, they have also long been represented in film, both in terms of feature film and documentary. On the other side of the law, the world of the police is perceived as one that excludes Jews. Back in 1944, German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote of “the traditional Jewish fear of the ‘cop’ – that seeming incarnation of a hostile world.” But that hasn’t stopped their fictional representation on film and television. This paper will provide an illustrated discussion of twenty-first century representations of Jewish criminals and police in a variety of contexts (film and television) and locations.