hummmm
So, I watched a movie the other day and there was a few things that made me go hummmm. The movie is from the 40s (yes that means black and white :-O) and it stars Greg Peck. The movie deals with anti-Semitism. “Gentleman’s Agreement" is sort of an us vs. them kind of thing. Christian who thought they where the better then Jews had Gentleman's Agreements in some neighbor hoods not to sell or rent to Jews. Exclusive country clubs or hotels would not allow Jews. Plus many other forms of discrimination are depicted in the movie. The premise of the movie is a report is writing a story and wants to get to the heart of the issue so since he is new in town and only his boss and his new girlfriend know the truth he tells pretty much everyone he meets that he is a Jew.
The reactions are typical for the late 40s I am sure in an average week a person would not meet that many people who would so openly look down on Jews but I wasn’t alive then so I cant say for sure. The whole point of the movie was to draw attention to a huge social problem. The movie for the time was progressive. Words like Kike and Yid (Slurs against Jews) are peppered through out. I have a good knowledge about the words and their meaning and I had to look a few up that I heard. (This is a good thing it means there harmful words are waning from society, the words are just dying away)
The reporter gets his wish to see what it would be like to be Jewish. His young son is teased and called a dirty kike I believe and comes home crying. In an earlier scene the boy comes home and asks, "am I a Jew" so and so heard that I was from so and so.
The movie itself and how our culture has changed is the first thing that made me go hummm. It is an interesting look at the way it was and how "Good people who do nothing" and don't fight back against anti-Semitism are just as guilty as those saying and doing the horrid things. The movie has many valid points here.
The second thing that made me go humm. The boy was young but not so young that he would not know if he was a Jew. He was 9 maybe 10 If he was a Christian he would be going to church and Sunday school if a Jew he would be going to temple. No one in the movie Jew or Christian seemed to go to church. In fact, God had nothing to do with this movie. I don’t even think his name was mentioned. "Your born a Jew" or "Your born a Christian" No different then being born Irish or born Mexican.
Gee, I thought religion was a matter of faith not a matter of birth. Hummmm
The reactions are typical for the late 40s I am sure in an average week a person would not meet that many people who would so openly look down on Jews but I wasn’t alive then so I cant say for sure. The whole point of the movie was to draw attention to a huge social problem. The movie for the time was progressive. Words like Kike and Yid (Slurs against Jews) are peppered through out. I have a good knowledge about the words and their meaning and I had to look a few up that I heard. (This is a good thing it means there harmful words are waning from society, the words are just dying away)
The reporter gets his wish to see what it would be like to be Jewish. His young son is teased and called a dirty kike I believe and comes home crying. In an earlier scene the boy comes home and asks, "am I a Jew" so and so heard that I was from so and so.
The movie itself and how our culture has changed is the first thing that made me go hummm. It is an interesting look at the way it was and how "Good people who do nothing" and don't fight back against anti-Semitism are just as guilty as those saying and doing the horrid things. The movie has many valid points here.
The second thing that made me go humm. The boy was young but not so young that he would not know if he was a Jew. He was 9 maybe 10 If he was a Christian he would be going to church and Sunday school if a Jew he would be going to temple. No one in the movie Jew or Christian seemed to go to church. In fact, God had nothing to do with this movie. I don’t even think his name was mentioned. "Your born a Jew" or "Your born a Christian" No different then being born Irish or born Mexican.
Gee, I thought religion was a matter of faith not a matter of birth. Hummmm
posted by Chris | 7:38 PM
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