Millennial Jewish Stars: Navigating Racial Antisemitism, Masculinity, and White Supremacy

Jonathan Branfman's book "Millennial Jewish Stars" explores how millennial Jewish stars in the US media have become symbols of national politics, highlighting the challenges they face in navigating racial antisemitism. The book offers case studies on six top millennial Jewish stars, including Drake, Lil Dicky, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, Seth Rogen, and Zac Efron, and argues that their success depends on how they navigate these stigmas. By embracing, deflecting, or satirizing these stigmas, each star comes to symbolize national hopes and fears about various hot-button issues. Examining how each star navigates racial antisemitism onscreen makes it easier to pinpoint how antisemitism, white privilege, and color-based racism interact in the real world, and can aid readers to better notice and challenge racial antisemitism in everyday life.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 18 June 2024
Publisher: New York University Press

Jonathan Branfman's book "Millennial Jewish Stars" explores the success of millennial Jewish stars in the US media and how they symbolize national politics. The book challenges the notion that Jewish stars have traditionally faced pressure to downplay their Jewish identity to avoid alienating wider audiences. However, since the 2000s, a new generation of millennial Jewish stars has achieved stellar success while highlighting their Jewish identity. Branfman examines six top millennial Jewish stars: Drake, Lil Dicky, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, Seth Rogen, and Zac Efron. He argues that each star's success depends on how they navigate racial antisemitism, which is the historical notion that Jews are physically inferior to Christians. Each star addresses racial stigmas about Jewish masculinity, which depict Jewish men as emasculated, Jewish women as masculinized, and both as sexually perverse. By embracing, deflecting, or satirizing these stigmas, each star becomes a symbol of national hopes and fears about various hot-button issues. For instance, Seth Rogen plays soft man-babies who dramatize and resolve popular anxieties about modern fatherhood, while Zac Efron portrays a Jewish man who struggles with his identity. By examining how each star navigates racial antisemitism on screen, Branfman highlights how antisemitism, white privilege, and color-based racism interact in the real world. The book offers valuable insights into the representation of Jewish identity in the media and the impact of these stars on American culture.

Weight: 492g
Dimension: 228 x 151 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781479820795