Yair Rosenberg
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Faith: As (Not) Seen on TV

4/17/2014

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Back in February, I published a column in the Wall Street Journal that I think is worth highlighting here. It showcased how religious filmmakers, fed up with the portrayal of their faith communities on TV and film, have started to wrest control of their narrative by making their own culture to compete in the mainstream.

To understand why this has become necessary, it's necessary to understand just how badly Hollywood has misrepresented religion on screen:
"I learned who Rachel was in church," muses a troubled character with the same name in the hit series "House of Cards." "Jacob fell in love with her while she was watering a lamb, and she became his wife after he worked seven years to earn her hand in marriage. Rachel had one son, Joseph. He became a king." There's only one problem with this account: It's wrong.

Jacob agreed to work for Rachel for seven years, but ended up working 14. She had two sons, not one. And Joseph did not become king, but rather Pharaoh's deputy in ancient Egypt.

This biblical bungling shouldn't be surprising: Faith doesn't play well in Hollywood, where TV and movie writers typically oscillate between ignorance and antipathy toward it.
Read the rest at the Wall Street Journal, and find out how filmmakers of faith--Muslim, Christian and Jewish--are fighting back.
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Latkes vs. Hamentaschen: The Great Debate

2/22/2013

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“Join me in a mob-like chant,” exclaims the 59-year-old scholar standing in front of the packed auditorium. As he raises his hands into the air, hundreds of the nation’s most talented students begin to intone in unison: “USA! USA! Latkes, Latkes, USA!” The place? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The occasion: MIT Hillel’s sixth annual Latke-Hamentaschen debate on March 5, 2008.

It’s a ritual that will soon be repeated on college campuses nationwide, as star academics face off on the perennial culinary question of Jewish tradition: latkes or hamentaschen? Which is superior—the fried potato pancakes traditionally served on Hanukkah, or the triangular jelly or poppy-filled pastries of the holiday of Purim?

I wrote about this custom for Tablet, and talked to scholars and conflict resolution experts about it:

So, what’s it like to participate in a Latke-Hamantaschen debate? “It’s like getting into a debate with Alan Dershowitz,” said Steven Pinker, the Harvard professor of psychology, who debated Alan Dershowitz on the subject in 2007 at Harvard Hillel. Few showdowns in his career, he said, have measured up. “The closest was my debate with Stephen Jay Gould on the evolution of language.”

“It’s great,” enthused Jack Rakove, a professor of American history at Stanford who referenced the debate in the opening pages of his Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Constitution, Original Meanings. “I tell all my students about it—not just the Jewish ones—and they seem to get a kick out of it.” Is there a debate in the history of the American founding that compares? “Probably Madison and Jefferson on the one hand, and Hamilton on the other, discussing the Necessary and Proper clause.”
Read the whole thing.
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Is "Homeland" Islamophobic?

12/18/2012

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Recently, a number of critics from Salon to The Guardian have claimed that "Homeland," the award-winning Showtime drama about America's war on terror, traffics in anti-Muslim tropes. Over at The Atlantic--where I last critiqued the political realism of The West Wing--I show that this is far from the case:

None of these critiques ... make any attempt to grapple with the counter-evidence to their allegations of bigotry. In doing so, they miss what makes this show so valuable. That's because Homeland, which wrapped up its second season on Sunday, is no gung-ho salute to U.S. militarism and tactics in the war on terror, nor a black-and-white portrayal of "good" Americans versus "evil" Muslims. In fact, a closer look at the drama reveals just the opposite of what its critics claim: a show that challenges the prejudices of its viewers rather than affirming them.
Read the whole thing at The Atlantic. (Oh, and spoiler alert!)
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My Latest at The Atlantic: Why The West Wing is a Terrible Guide to American Democracy

10/4/2012

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Over at The Atlantic, I offer a critique of the realism of political television and film:
You wouldn't think to learn medicine from House or jurisprudence from Law & Order. But can you learn democratic governance from The West Wing? Some people seem to think so. At a ceremony honoring Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reported that politicians in Burma have told her they've been attempting to understand democracy by watching Aaron Sorkin's celebrated show. It's actually not the first time a foreign official has made such a claim: European Union Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton told Newsweek in 2010 that she learned about America and "the mechanics of Washington life" from being "an avid viewer of The West Wing." Hillary Clinton, for her part, said she told one of the Burmese politicians that "I think we can do better than that."

Clinton's comment has provoked some backlash among West Wing faithful. Writing at the New Yorker, Ian Crouch argues at some length that "Clinton may be wrong in overlooking the power of The West Wing as a pedagogical tool." But Clinton -- who has not-insignificant experience in this area -- is absolutely right. While The West Wing may be some of the best American television ever produced, it is not a particularly accurate or insightful guide to the actual workings of American democracy. In fact, the very artistic and narrative choices that make it a superb drama make it a very poor representation of politics.
Read the whole thing at The Atlantic. (The rest of this post will probably make more sense once you have.)

I originally wrote much of this critique back in my junior year of college, then filed it away. That piece argued that the unrealistic portrayal of politics on television conditions Americans to expect more from their politicians than they can possibly deliver. And it cast Obama as both beneficiary (as a candidate) and victim (as a president) of this mythology. Belief in the transformational capacity of a singular presidential figure fueled liberal enthusiasm during the campaign; since then, failure of the Obama presidency to overcome political realities and live up to this impossible standard has fueled bitter liberal disappointment.

Another great example of the cartoonish exaggeration of the power of the presidency in popular culture: Steven Spielberg's upcoming movie Lincoln. Take a look at the TV spot that aired during last night's presidential debate:
In this reconstruction, it is Abraham Lincoln who freed the slaves. The majority of the American people who elected him and fought the Civil War are but a footnote to his Second Inaugural Address and Emancipation Proclamation, a natural extension of Lincoln's political and oratorical prowess. It's a formulation few serious historians will defend, but one which makes for profoundly satisfying and heroic cinema. Which is fine--as long as we remember to separate fact from fiction when we hit the ballot box.
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    I see journalism as an excuse to interrogate people who interest me under the guise of professional obligation. So when I report, I tend to collect a lot more information from my sources than can fit into my pieces. Here I post some of the greatest hits for your entertainment, along with other brief thoughts on religion, politics and culture. Well, that and funny YouTube videos.
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    I always appreciate confirmation that my writing is being read by people other than my mother and would love to hear from you. Feel free to be in touch.

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