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.

This is why I asked if you’re Jewish. As a jew, your voice should be heard first in this debate, quite rightly . It is an issue that impacts you and your voice matters.

Up until a very recent post I think, almost all responses from other Jewish people has been that this is a non issue. If you feel differently and are a Jew, that’s important to recognise.

But broadly, some non-Jewish people are getting all angry about something that doesn’t appear to anger the very group they are getting angry on behalf of.

If the general consensus from the Jewish population is that there is a problem then yes, a person from outside that group would be a welcome ally, and we thank you for your support.

But if the community don’t think there’s a problem, apart from being the “white knight” that someone else alluded to, who are people getting angry on behalf of?

Anti semitism exists in many ugly forms but this is a really poor example to amplify in my opinion for all the reasons outlined many many times above.

No I’d want a Jewish actor to portray me. I know we are a minority but I’m no movie obsessive and I can think of multiple Jewish actors off the top of my head so there must be even more.

Does that include Jewish converts? Serous question.

"(not sure how many people really knew what Bernstein looked like)"

Seriously? Google is your friend. Or try YouTube.

@Tiredalwaystired that’s an interesting point, although I consider converts Jewish, they obviously aren’t ethnically Jewish. I think I’d want someone with Jewish ancestry (whether practicing or not) to portray a Jewish character. If a white person converted to Voodoo you would suddenly cast them as a Haitian.

So would you then suggest that Jewish actors shouldn't be playing non-Jewish roles? I can't imagine many actors who would go for that. Or do you feel that, say, Irish or English people should just suck it up if a Jewish person plays someone of that ethnicity?

Is it only ethnicity that you feel this way about? Should Call the Midwife only have allowed Christians, or Anglicans, to play the roles of the nuns, for example?

You are very quickly going to get to a place where you really can't have acting or made-up stories for that matter.

I think that poster means "most people", will go into the film without knowing what he looked like. So won't notice if the actor doesn't look that similar.

I have a couple of questions for you, firstly how do you define English? You can be Jewish and also English just like you can be black and English. Judaism is an ethnoreligion unlike Christianity so you can’t compare an atheist playing a nun to a gentile playing a Jew. I identify as Jewish however I don’t believe in G-d, I celebrate our holidays just like atheists celebrate Christmas. I rarely go to synagogue. My point is that in the UK British people are not a minority, white people aren’t a minority, so having a black person or a Jew playing a Brit isn’t an issue.

My DH is ethnically Jewish as his mother is Jewish. However, he looks almost exactly like his Irish father and was not brought up Jewish in any way. His mother as far as I can see made no effort to teach him anything about Judaism. He was brought up atheist. I've probably, as a Catholic been to a synagogue more times than him ( twice) and probably know more about Jewish customs than him as I did a GCSE RE. He hadnt taught our children anything about Judaism because he hadnt a clue about it. None of us believe in God but culturally I teach my children about Catholicism as its part of their heritage. I would like to introduce a few Jewish cultural references in, because ethnically, they are 25% Ashkhenazi, but he just doesn't know anything. It would be interesting to me if, if he was an actor, he would count as Jewish or not for a Jewish part.

Part of the reason blackface was considered so offensive was because there were very few black actors and they didn’t get lead roles because, even when a leading character was black, the part was given to a white man.

Does the same apply to Jewish actors? Were there very few, and were they also denied leading roles? Genuine question, as I’m also not a movie obsessive, and don’t know much about the history of film in this regard.

Does the same apply to Jewish actors? Were there very few, and were they also denied leading roles? Genuine question, as I’m also not a movie obsessive, and don’t know much about the history of film in this regard.

Here is a list:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_American_entertainers

Is a large nose considered a Jewish trait? What is Jewish face? Do Jewish people have different features to non Jewish people?
Obviously you can tell I'm not Jewish, so probably massively missing the point, but is it not just an actor using a prosthetic nose to look more like the character he's portraying?

An actor I used to be a fan of about a million years ago was in the original film of Fiddler on the Roof. He had to wear brown contact lenses because apparently Jewish people don't have blue eyes. Even though he was widely known to be Jewish.

Your husband's mother is Jewish, he is Jewish. It makes no difference if he believes in G-d or not, if he observes religious festivals, goes to shul and keeps kosher. If your mother is Jewish (and her mother Jewish) you are Jewish.

Interestingly, Hollywood/the US entertainment industry has the largest proportion of Jews working and was essentially founded by Jews. Part of the foundation of musicals lay in Yiddish folk songs.

Many did actors and studio heads/executives did anglicise their names and in some instances, changed them completely, but others kept them. Do some googling, it's a fascinating topic how Jews radiated to both California and the film & entertainment industry.

@PriOn1 A starter

I will be honest on the wiki list a lot of the Jewish actors listed a lot of them is reaching a lot.

As a Jew I find it awful. There is a huge history of antisemitism where they use the nose. Including Nazi propaganda. Coopers nose was fine. And just cause his kids said it’s fine they don’t speak for the Jewish community. To me it’s no different from blackface and the historical reasons that’s not acceptable.

Look up Nazi propaganda Jews and see how the nose is used.

I find the whole prosthetic nose very odd indeed. One of my husband and I’s favourite classical pieces is Bernstein conducting and playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. We always comment on what a distinguished bloke he is in the footage, really arresting in terms of presence, and in photos of him as a young man he’s so good looking, he could have been a movie star. His nose isn’t anywhere near as prominent as the prosthetic appears. BC’s own nose looks closer. It may be a very poor angle in the photos that I’ve seen of BC but I think it should have been well left alone, if for aesthetic purposes alone, let alone any sneaking suspicion of anti-semitism. Which I can’t believe that there was for a second, unconscious bias notwithstanding.

Wearing a fake nose to look like a particular person is nothing like, say, someone being painted black and playing a leading part of a black slave.
The former is a person whose already got the role doing their best to represent their part. The latter is racial discrimination, denying an actual black person from playing the role.

I'm still baffled why they felt the need for a prosthetic at all tbh

The noses aren't that different in the first place

If only Jewish people can play Jews then only Christians can play Christians and atheists and Muslims and Buddhists etc

Only disabled can play disabled and blind can play blind and deaf deaf and gay only played by gay etc etc

It's ridiculous

The word ACTING springs to mind. People act in character of another.

I don’t necessarily agree with that. Bernstein had a healthy-sized nose even as a young man. This doesn’t look too far off what they’ve done with Cooper.

Because black people have been taunted for their physical appearance and oppressed for centuries, whereas Jews… oh wait…