| Jews Are Ugly Slobs | |
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by Elisa Albert, October 4, 2007
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Here's Gwyneth Paltrow discussing her physical "transformation" in "The Good Night":
...as Dora, the protagonist’s waking-life girlfriend, Gwyneth is barely recognizable: pale, with a cape of dense brown hair, bundled in shapeless cardigans. “It was me physicalizing my New York Jewish half,” jokes Gwyneth. (Her rep as a shiksa goddess notwithstanding, the actress is in fact, as a friend likes to call her, “Gwyneth Paltrow, the descendant of ancient rabbis.”)
I won't get into the absurdity of an actress sans eyeliner being labeled "barely recognizable." And "descendant of ancient rabbis" sounds a lil' nebulous. I mean, shit: aren't we all? But whatever. She's clearly Jewish enough for Hitler, and that, friends, means she's Jewish enough for me.
Question is, does dressing down and attaining moderate fugliness make one feel more Jewish? Or just look more Jewish? I suppose it's a method issue.
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Elisa Albert is the author of The Book of Dahlia and the short-story collection More... |
David Kelsey
Hitler the Posek
"She's clearly Jewish
enough for Hitler, and that, friends, means she's Jewish enough for me."
What other aspects of Hitler's Nazi ideology do you personally accept as the final, definitive word about Jews and Judaism in addition to "Who is a Jew?"
Ehud Aha
And Morgan Freeman is not Jewish Enough
Since we're talking movies, a just-released flick Feast of Love, from Charles Baxter's novel of the same name, has deracinated the edgy, intellectual Jewish couple in the book, giving the roles to Morgan Freeman and Jane Alexander.
Unlike the book, the movie's been panned, but there's supposed to be a lot of female nudity so I might yet check it out.
Speaking of which, Elisa!!! How This Night is Different is one of the funniest things I've read this century! Too bad the stories are too Jewish to ever get a film adaptation, but maybe that's for the best.
Anonymous
Gwynneth
Since when does frumpy equate with Jewish? And why is this reported as fact? where are all the nay-sayers to this kind of stereotyped notion?
Anonymous
Fugliness?
First of all, props for using a word I thought only my mother still uses.
And on Paltrow's insistence that "physicalizing [her] New York Jewish half" means looking frumpy, I wonder what she would make of this: During the infamous transit strike, I was stopped on the street by a complete stranger who was holding a map and looking desperate.
He was in town for a work meeting, he explained, and he had planned to go to the Guggenheim to see some art before heading out to his plane at 5:30 in a hired car. It was already pretty late and he wanted to know how he could get to the Guggenheim without a car from the corner of 8th Street and 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village. And his hired car was picking him up in Tribeca or somewhere ridiculously far from the Guggenheim. I told him I wouldn't hold out much hope for his plan given the strike. I suggested some downtown museums and galleries.
He asked if I would go into Starbucks with him for a second and just show him on the map. He didn't seem like a creep. I agreed. I needed a caffeine boost.
We got to talking, and his plan for seeing art went out the window. We chatted about cool indie stuff, progressive politics, and--how I manage to do this with complete strangers I don't know--religion. Turns out, he's sort of a lapsed Jew. And he can't believe I'm a CONVERT!
"You're not Jewish? By birth?"
"No, I converted pretty recently, actually. Why?"
"You look Jewish."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. It's sort of a style thing--the cool glasses, the cool clothing. Jewish."
David Kelsey
shtetl fabulous
I went out with a girl who wasn't Jewish in part just because she had that shtetl look, which I think is what both Paltrow and in her own way, Elisa, is disparaging. I don't think that understated look is unattractive at all. I think it's adorable.
Anonymous
DK
This is that rare occasion where I actually agree with you regarding your statement about the shtetl looking being attractive.
Anonymous
omg
The best looking jews dont look jewish at all.
Anonymous
P.S.
Being jewish means everybody hates you and you dont care. If everyboy wants to date you for your good looks (and not your money) you are non-jewish by definition.
Anonymous and confused
I don't get it
What exactly is the problem with Gwyneth?
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