Finalist for the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in Modern Jewish Thought and Experience presented by the Jewish Book Council
Movies and Midrash uses cinema as a springboard to discuss central Jewish texts and matters of belief. A number of books have drawn on films to explicate Christian theology and belief, but Wendy I. Zierler is the first to do so from a Jewish perspective, exploring what Jewish tradition, text, and theology have to say about the lessons and themes arising from influential and compelling films. The book uses the method of ‚inverted midrash‘: while classical rabbinical midrash begins with exegesis of a verse and then introduces a
mashal (parable) as a means of further explication, Zierler turns that process around, beginning with the culturally familiar cinematic parable and then analyzing related Jewish texts. Each chapter connects a secular film to a different central theme in classical Jewish sources or modern Jewish thought. Films covered include
The Truman Show (truth),
Memento (memory),
Crimes and Misdemeanors (sin),
Magnolia (confession and redemption),
The Descendants (birthright),
Forrest Gump (cleverness and simplicity), and
The Hunger Games (creation of humanity in God’s image), among others.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Rabbi Eugene B. Borowitz
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1.
The Truman Show: Truth
2.
Magnolia: Confession and Redemption
3.
The Descendants: Birthright: Consent versus Descent
4. On
Memento: Remaking Memory from the Outside In
5. Crimes, Misdemeanors, and Sin
6.
Forrest Gump: Cleverness and Simplicity
7.
The King’s Speech: Speaking God’s Word
8.
Stranger than Fiction: God as Author
9.
A Serious Man: Parables of Jewishness
10.
Exam: Tests, Trials, and Attachments
11.
The Hunger Games: In God’s Image
Conclusion
Moonrise Kingdom: And the Youth Shall See Visions
Appendix I On the Design of “Reel Theology, ” from e-mail archives
Appendix II More Movies and Midrash: Additional Film Resources
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Über den Autor
Wendy I. Zierler is Sigmund Falk Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion and the author of
And Rachel Stole the Idols: The Emergence of Modern Hebrew Women’s Writing.
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