About half of Jewish characters depicted in scripted TV shows were played by Jewish actors, according to a study of depictions of contemporary Judaism on TV released by the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center Media Impact Project.
The Conducted research into ‘Jews on Screen’ As part of the center’s Media Impact Project, it sought to examine how Jews are portrayed on scripted TV and whether depictions of Jews and Jewish life have moved beyond the hateful stereotypes of the past. At a time of increasing incidents of anti-Semitism in the US and elsewhere, the Lear Center emphasized “the importance of nuanced and humanizing portrayals of Jewish Americans in entertainment” as essential to combating prejudice.
“Decades of research indicate that scripted media – including television and film – can play an important role in shaping attitudes toward members of marginalized communities. Entertainment media
can promote and reinforce stereotypes or prejudices, but can also soften them. As such it is
It is crucial to have a basic understanding of how Jewish Americans are typically depicted
contemporary media,” the study said.
The findings were achieved by analyzing 108 Jewish characters in 49 episodes of 15 scripted TV series that aired between 2021 and 2022. The series were chosen because they “had the most mentions out of 30
keywords related to Jews or Judaism,” the study said.
The study found that 56% of those characters were played by Jewish actors, while 24% were played by what the study described as confirmed non-Jews. At 65%, male characters became more likely to be played by Jewish actors than female characters (44%).
A third of the Jewish male characters shown were wearing traditional garments such as yarmulkes. Nearly half (48%) of these characters were religious professionals such as rabbis and funeral directors, while 19% were identified as Orthodox. Fewer than one in five characters mentioned Judaism in their dialogue. About 30% of the characters were depicted as wealthy or upper-middle class.
The study also examined specific attitudes and portrayals of Orthodox Jews. At least half of the shows in the study had at least one Orthodox character in a speaking role. Half of the episodes featured characters expressing “negative judgments” about Orthodox Judaism.