Jewish On-Screen Representation Is Largely Stereotypes and Needs More ‘Diversity and Specificity,’ New Study Finds

A new study from the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project revealed that Jewish representation on-screen still falls flat, leaning into detrimental stereotypes and highlighting only specific types of Jews.

Researchers from the Media Impact Project analyzed 108 Jewish characters across 49 episodes of 15 TV series that aired from 2021 to 2022. They found that in scripted television Orthodox Jews are often othered, while Jewish people at large are painted in broad strokes as a monolith. 

Out of the 15 series studied, they found 95% of Jewish people represented on screen were white – only three characters were perceived as Black, one as Asian and one as Middle Eastern Asian. Additionally, Jews with intersectional identities, including queer representation and body diversity, were largely absent. 

Antisemitism in America has become increasingly rampant since the Oct. 7 attacks last year and the Israeli military response that followed in Gaza. In late October, FBI director Christopher Wray warned that antisemitism in the U.S. was rising to “historic levels.” Just two months later, Wray reported a 60% increase in hate crime investigations after Oct. 7.

Additionally, the USC study noted that there has been a 36% rise in antisemitic events from 2021 to 2022 and a 140% rise between 2022 and 2023.

“With increasingly brazen attacks on Jews, a message from Hollywood that leans into Jewish joy and pride could be contagious and move off the screen to Jews and non-Jews alike,” Allison Josephs, founder and executive director of JITC Hollywood Bureau, said.

The Media Impact Project posited that with more positive, diverse representation of Judaism in film and television, the rate of antisemitic hate could slow.

“No community is a monolith,” Lear Center senior researcher Soraya Giaccardi said. “Our findings suggest there is a lot of room for more fully depicting the diversity of the Jewish community.” 

The study noted several damaging stereotypes that recurred throughout television shows, even ones they studied from 2021 to 2022: “The Nebbish Man” (a nerdy, mama’s boy), “The Overbearing Jewish Mother” and “The Jewish American Princess (JAP).”

“Nobody Wants This” creator Erin Foster received backlash on her show for depicting the parents as “overbearing.” Foster defended herself, stating that she was leaning on their immigrant background more than their Jewish identity for those character traits.

“That is why I don’t feel that the parents are stereotypes as much. Immigrant culture can be very insular and fearful of outsiders, and there’s a good reason for that,” Foster explained. “I wanted to play into that, because it’s an added layer of cultural differences between these two people.”

Some of the shows analyzed in the USC study included “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Big Mouth,” “Gossip Girl,” and “And Just Like That.”

After analyzing 30 episodes that aired between 2019 and 2022 and explicitly mentioned Orthodox Judaism, researchers found that only half had an Orthodox character in a speaking role and over a third had no Orthodox characters at all, meaning Orthodox Jews are often talked about rather than having autonomy themselves.

Additionally, half of all episodes studied expressed negative judgments about Orthodox Judaism, placing a damaging image about a small population within the Jewish community.

The study recommended that to fix these underlying biases and microaggressions in Hollywood, industry professionals should specifically mind tropes that associate Jews with money and power, allow Orthodox characters to speak for themselves, elevate untold Jewish stories, lean into diversity and specificity in storytelling and give voice to Jewish pride and joy.

The USC study was independently conducted with funding from the advocacy organization JITC (Jewish Institute for Television & Cinema) Hollywood Bureau, a division of Jew in the City. 

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