Jewface! The History of Racist Jewish Stereotypes

  Jewface!   Introduction Jewface refers to the creation and propagation of racist Jewish stereotypes and caricatures. After being forced from their homeland in the Middle East over 2,000 years ago, Jews became a nomadic people who eventually spread throughout Europe. As outsiders they were often viewed with suspicion by the locals and many myths were created about them. Jewish people have been stereotyped throughout the centuries and have often been used as scapegoats for a multitude of societal problems.   Racist Jewish Stereotypes Jews have been stereotyped as greedy, nit-picky, misers and they have often been depicted counting money or collecting gold and jewels. Anti-Semitism flourished for centuries and reached a climax in Nazi Germany during World War II with the Holocaust, when Hitler tried to exterminate all of the Jews in Europe. Though anti-Semitism is less overt now in polite society than it has been in the past, the underlying stereotypes and attitudes about what it means

  Jewish Stereotypes in Film and TV Based on European Jewish folklore, The Golem (1920) , tells the story of a Jewish rabbi in the 16th-century who creates a giant creature from clay, called the Golem, and using sorcery, brings the creature to life in order to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution. In The Jazz Singer (1927) , Cantor Rabinowitz is upset because his son Jakie (Al Jolson) shows no interest in carrying on the family's traditions and heritage. For five generations, men in the family have been Cantors in the synagogue, but Jakie is more interested in jazz and ragtime music. One day, they have such a bitter argument that Jakie leaves home for good. After a few years on his own, now calling himself Jack Robin, he enjoys a great deal of success. Jakie comes home in time to sing Kol Nidre at Yom Kippur services and reconciles with his dying father.   The most notorious anti-Semitic film of all time is probably Der ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew, 1939) , a Ger