choose life

I'm a dancer, and I'm also frum. the struggle between those two things has been present in most of my life. this film is making yet another mockery of religious Jews, when it could have been a celebration of complexity and depth.

now, imagine MY concept for a movie like this: a film about a yeshiva boy (or grown man) who loves ballet, who just wants to express himself through dance. He struggles with the expectations of dancing with women, with the tight costumes, with the lack of precedence for these activities in the frum community, as well as the complications involved in rehearsals/performances being on shabbat, all while being pressured to give it up by his peers and family.

throughout the film, you see him struggling but eventually succeeding by: refusing to perform on shabbat, getting advice from professional dancers of other religions who have struggled with similar things and triumphed, gaining opportunities for both solo and group dancing without needing to touch women, and maybe even inspiring other yeshiva boys to explore their artistic, creative sides.

the film ends with him choreographing a beautiful tribute to Judaism through ballet that shows his struggles, performing it at a competition, and winning.

wouldn't that be great? wouldn't that be a fantastic film about not compromising on your heritage and traditions while simultaneously pursuing your dreams through adversity?

Representation is super important! But not all representation is created equal, so for all my rants about wanting more Jewish representation, here is one (apropos of someone reminding me that Mortal Instruments exists) asking you to please not do certain things when you write your token Jewish character.

(Is tokenism great? No, but sometimes it’s necessary! I’m not asking all the non-Jewish writers out there to write all-Jewish stories, and everyone wants diverse and evenly-distributed casts, which means you’re going to often have your token Jewish / insert-minority-here character, or even twofer token minorities, and that’s okay, so long as it’s done right!)

So let’s say you’re writing fantasy, and your token Jewish character is also going to be a token insert-fantasy-creature-here character. Some Dos and Don’ts:

Don’t:

make your token Jewish character the token vampire (this leans into really gross and racist anti-Semitic blood libel) (looking at you, the mortal instruments)

make your token Jewish character the token goblin/leprechaun/other gold-loving magical creature (this leans into gross racist anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and money)

make your token Jewish character the token Fae in a changeling story (this also leans into the gross racist blood libel, by way of “stealing away a baby”)

make your token Jewish character the token tiefling/faun/other horned magical creature (this leans into weird racist anti-Semitic beliefs about Jews and horns)

make your token Jewish character the token Roman or Greek demigod (because ancient Rome and ancient Greece oppressed us, and their beliefs are diametrically opposed to Jewish beliefs, and Rome in particular destroyed our Temple, razed our land, and exiled and subjugated our people) (hahahahaha *cries in Still Furious At Riordan*)

This isn’t fantasy-specific, but also don’t make your token Jew the only/main villain. (Can a Jewish character be a villain? Fair enough, anyone can! But if it’s the only Jewish character in the work, then you need to reflect on your latent or not-so-latent anti-Semitism. Same for if the villain is heavily Jewish-coded.)

Do:

make your token Jewish character the token werewolf (both are hyperaware of the phases of the moon, plus we have some fun Midrashim [exegetical stories] about Benjamin being a werewolf)

make your token Jewish character the token golem (the golem is a proudly Jewish magical creature/construct, originating in the story of the Golem of Prague, which was created by a rabbi to protect the city’s Jewish community - in fact, if you have a golem, it should have its Jewish roots explicitly acknowledged)

make your token Jewish character the token mermaid (Rashi, one of the most famous/popular Jewish Biblical commentators, believed that mermaids were real! they’re a Jewish thing now, I’m making it a thing!)

make your token Jewish character any other magical creature I guess, just please examine the representation to make sure you are not portraying stereotypes or feeding into negative libels or false beliefs about Jewish people

Acknowledge the character’s Jewish identity as an important part of them, not just their magical identity

(These are just examples, you don’t literally have to make your Jewish character a werewolf/golem/mermaid, but if you do, I want to read it)

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