Bradley Cooper and 'Jewface'

[Shimto]

His biopic of Leonard Bernstein, and the release of the trailer show BC wearing a prosthetic nose to play Bernstein.

Leonard Bernstein's family have issued a warm, supportive and beautiful statement supporting BC's commitment to the role and rejecting the criticism.

I was really surprised to see the prosthetic. I understand the cries of Jewface. I think BC is an intelligent, talented actor and producer. My initial reaction was 'what was he thinking?' while also finding the family's statement so heartfelt.

Sorry if there's another thread - my quick search didn't find one. I guess my AIBU is whether BC was right or wrong here - I've been pondering it today.

The disingenuousness on this thread is sickening.

The prosthetic doesn’t make BC look more like Bernstein. It looks more like a fucking comedy nose a la Roxanne.

And some posters are claiming to be ignorant of the long history of the antisemitic trope of a big nose!

One fine day, when a movie is made about me, I shall choose someone who looks like young Cindy Crawford to be my double. I'm white and a brunette, so it's as close as it gets.

Everyone points out that I'm short and I'm quite sick of it. I come from the land of gigantic women where I've spent my life nipple-height. There would be my face and someone's boobs in every shot of that movie (unless we are queuing, then it's the blank space of someone's mid-back) if it were a proper documentary. But it's not. So we can go with Cindy.
Being short should be a protected characteristic really, so that no one is ever allowed to make me feel short.
Has anyone's nose shape ever excluded them from sport? I was made to quit my basketball team...

A flirtatious young man once described me as "compact" for a compliment. Makes me sound like a used car, don't you think?

And whilst on the topic, my pronouns are:
we/thems

Anyways, I hope I have added something to this thread for the intellectuals and theorists to mull over.

P. S.
Anyone disagreeing with any part of my viewpoint has clearly never been short and can't know true suffering.

I suppose this is some lame attempt at humour.
i suggest you visit Auschwitz or Dachau to inform yourself and least attempt to take the subject of antisemitism and prejudice in general seriously, along with many others on this thread.

The reason I’m upset over this is that the newspaper I was reading had a picture of Leonard Bernstein alongside Bradley Cooper and in this picture he had quite a neat nose. There didn’t seem to be any need for a prosthetic whatsoever.

Except Bradley cooper having a nose extension had nothing to do with this so stop reaching you are being embarrassong.

But you’re completely missing the point here! Why would there be an outcry that Nicole Kidman wore a prosthetic to play Virginia Woolf? But you need to consider centuries-old antisemitic tropes/cartoons etc. How were Jews portrayed in antisemitic pictures? With extreme caricature-type huge hook noses. This is the point of this thread.

How about Helen Mirren playing Golda Meir, then?

“Tracy-Ann Oberman, a Jewish actress known from Doctor Who, remarked to Page Six, “If Bradley Cooper can play the Elephant Man without prosthetics, why does he need one to depict a Jewish individual, particularly a 'Jewish' nose?” She equated the use of such prosthetics to racially insensitive portrayals like blackface or yellowface.”

Merseymum: do you have taken a survey of the ‘majority’ of Jews? Beyond absurd.

Wenfy: Please educate yourself about the Holocaust- there are not different ‘races’ of Jews. There is only the human race. Nazis didn’t first target ‘non-white’ Jews! Absurd! ‘Race’ a not a ‘real’ thing; it is a cultural/social construction. Created by really bad scientists and historians. There is a load of literature on this. The Nazis RACIALIZED Jews- and since it was not always possible to identify them by their putative race, they were made to wear yellow stars. By continuing to think of people as belonging to distinct races (historically impossible) you are perpetuating the sort of perverse logic used by Nazis

I think the nose thing is a red herring. The real question is should non Jewish people play Jewish characters or historical figures. If we were going to make a biopic about Serena Williams today, it's unlikely we'd cast someone mixed race or white.
The problem is how far this goes. I'm Latin American, so I wonder about if they make a movie about Isabel Allende, should they have to cast a Chilean actress over a Peruvian? Should an Italian actor be allowed to play an Irish character?
Traditionally the argument was that white actors should not steal good roles from actors of colour. I'm looking at you Scarlett Johansson! But then the discussion became more complex, such as should black British actors play iconic African American historical figures such as Martin Luther King?
I think when making biopics, studios should consider whether the actor is from an ethnic or cultural group overly represented in the acting world but also whether there is a reason why you're not casting someone more similar to the protagonist in terms of background. This becomes tricky due to there being hugely more roles written for white characters.
All I can say is that representation matters.

I wonder if it is another one of the people being offended on behalf of another people who can't be bothered. Some of you are really looking for things that could possibly offend.

Interesting point @WhaleSharkBootySweat but also... the below.
I think we're sort of losing sight what acting profession is all about. We're confining people to only play their own religion and ethnicity, in general and more so by the day. So should a Manchester based actor only play Manchester character roles with a mancunian accent, is it gonna offend Scottish or Welsh people if they play a Scottish or Welsh character (already seen discussions on this)? What if a person of a certain ethnicity are just not as talented and you can't fill the gap, will you make a shit project just to please a small minority of people just because, or will you get someone who will attract viewers to see the films. Should all British actors playing American characters be sent back from the sets and make space for the actual Americans (also read this)?

So many jump on the offended bandwagon because it's cool.

And none of the actors/journalists also dont represent all of the Jewish people, so....

What’s embarrassing is that
you and many others on this thread don’t seem to be aware that ‘othering’ and dehumanising specific ethnic groups, in particular because of specific physical attributes, is the beginning of the road to ‘ethnic cleansing’
Never forget.

@AncientBallerina Agreed. The downplaying and shutting people's views off as a 'reach' on this thread all feels so...familiar.

@Wouldyouguess so on that basis would you condone white actors playing roles meant for people of colour?

I never said I did. Interesting we talk about 'white actors' though as they were all proviledged, how many Romanian/Polish/Czech/Belgian/Austrian and other minority white actors can you name? Do you think they all stand the same chance?

I just said that people take it too far into the 'only a person from x can play another person from x' or 'only person of x religion can plan a person of X religion.
Omar Shariff was not Russian. Are any subsequent adaptationd of that book done in the West done by Russian actors? Meryl Streep has zero Italian background, but her character on Bridges of Madison County was Italian. Upsetting? Should we forbid Jewish actors playing non-Jewish characters?
It's just extremely limiting, and pretending to be someone else is part of the craft, it should not be only about playing yourself.

I really struggle with this question. The art of acting is to be something that you are not. Costumes and make-up, including prosthetics, have been part of acting since its inception.
I have no problem if the actor is trying to mock a different race. That is obviously wrong, but where the actor is trying to be a more convincing character then I can struggle. Although in this case (Bradley Cooper) I don't think it was necessary nor do I think it improved the performance.
A question I don't know the answer to: If a white actor was playing a mixed race character would it be wrong for the actor to tan to look more like the character (s)he is playing?

Because he isn't portraying a Jew he is portraying Leonard Bernstein who had a biggish nose. The movie is about a genius composer and conductor. He amounts to more than his race or religion.
If he had been non Jewish with a big nose and they did a prosthetic would that be Noseface?

Not all Jewish people have big noses, to suggest that they do is stereotyping.

Because men cannot be women.
And white people cannot be black.
Hence woman face and blackface.

Non Jews however can have large noses, whilst Jews can have small noses.

So a prosthetic nose isn't Jew face. It's just a nose to look more like a character who has a big nose.

@montysma1 Disingenuous to say the very least. Caricatures of long or hooked noses have been used as a weapon to spread negative stereotypes about Jews for centuries in order to bait and discriminate against them. Not sure if you can't or simply don't want to understand the complexities and sensitivities involved here (regardless of what Bernstein's family have said).

Because men cannot be women.
And white people cannot be black.

And women cannot be men, black people can't be white.
I've seen plays with black casts and with women playing make roles. Didn't stop me enjoying the plays.

I understand the complexities. So does the Berstain family.

I've read a few pages and so many people are missing the point, that a) BC looks more like LB before the prosthetic and b) a large nose is known as being a (negative) Jewish cliche.
So it all seems ill-advised at best.

OP, are you Jewish? I am and do not see the issue, nor does the Bernstein family. Stop getting outraged on other people's behalf and stop your ridiculous virtue signalling!