What is the relationship between Jewish ritual and American pop culture? What roles do Judaism, Jewishness, and Jewish ritual have in cultural representations of Jewish life? What is more important in a representation of Jewish ritual: accuracy or authenticity? tradition or adaptability? This class will explore these questions in detail, looking at examples of films and television series that feature Jewish holidays, rituals, and life cycle events, some that attempt to translate Judaism "as it is" for non-Jewish viewers, some that aim to connect to Jewish viewers through nostalgia, humor, sentimentality or satire, and still others that emphasize a Judaism of one's own making, somewhat removed from halakha but still imbued with deep personal significance. Together, we'll discuss what the value is of translating Judaism and Jewish ritual to the big (and small) screens, and what constitutes a successful representation of Jewish life. Examples of series/films we'll consider include The Jazz Singer, The Goldbergs, The Nanny, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Transparent, and Between the Temples, among others.

Samantha Pickette, PhD is the Assistant Director of Brandeis University Hillel and a Lecturer in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. She has a Ph.D. in American Studies from Boston University. Her research focuses on Jewish-American culture, with a particular emphasis on representations and stereotypes of Jewish women in American literature, film, television and comedy. She has taught courses at BU, Brandeis, Smith College, UT Austin, where she served as Assistant Director of the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies, and Boston College, where she served as the inaugural visiting fellow in Jewish Studies. She is a research associate at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. Her work has been published in Shofar, Studies in American Jewish Literature, and The Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, among others. Her first monograph, Peak TV’s Unapologetic Jewish Woman: Exploring Jewish Female Representation in Contemporary Television Comedy, was released by Lexington Books in 2022.