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Misused: Matzo Fever

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To-do list:

  • Matzo Fever was renamed to Gentile Jew-Chaser because it's a trope that is supposed to be about non-Jewish characters expressing attraction towards Jewish characters precisely because they're Jewish. Remove any on-page examples and wicks that misuse the trope more broadly than this, and move correct examples to the new name.

    Original post 
NOTE: The following thread was written by Rmctagg09. Please give credit to them.


Matzo Fever is a trope that is supposed to be about non-Jewish characters expressing attraction towards Jewish characters precisely because they're Jewish.

After doing a wick check of 50 wicks this was what I found of the most notable examples:

  • Correct Usage: 4/50 (8%)
  • ZCEs: 30%
  • Direct Misuse:
    • "Jewish Character is Considered Attractive In-Universe": 12/50 (24%)
    • "Non-Jewish character's Love Interest Happens to be Jewish": 9/50 (18%)
    • "Jewish Character Attracted to Other Jews": 5/50 (10%)

As can be seen, a good number of examples have the issue where if they aren't just straight ZCEs, they just fall under "Jewish Love Interest" or "attractive woman who happens to be Jewish", which is simply chairs, rather than Gentile characters being attracted to a Jewish person because they're Jewish.

Apart from cleaning the Zero Context Examples and misuse, I think the trope could also use a new name to better reflect what it's supposed to be used for, which should cut down on misuse.

Potential Renames: Jew Fetishizer, Gentile Jew-Chaser.

Wick check:

Matzo Fever has a good number of examples where when they aren't just straight ZCEs, just list "Love Interest or attractive woman who happens to be Jewish" rather than characters being attracted to a Jewish person because they're Jewish.

(50/50)

    open/close all folders 

    Correct usage (4/50) = 8% 

  • Characters.Trainspotting: His plans for his cut of the drug money involve settling down with a beautiful, rich Jewish princess.
  • ComicBook.Limekiller At Large: in the first issue, Marty mentions that the second item on his bucket list is to make love to a Jewish woman.
  • Creator.John Mulaney: In his act, he states that he likes to date Jewish women because they say exactly what's on their mind and encourage him to stand up for himself. True enough, he married a Jewish woman in the Catskills Mountains.
  • Creator.Robert Crumb: Frequently references his love of Jewish women in his comics.

    Zero-Context Examples (15/50) = 30% 

    Jewish Character is Attractive (12/50) = 24% 

    Love Interest Happens to be Jewish (9/50) = 18% 

    Jewish Character Attracted to Other Jews (5/50) = 10% 

    Creator page misuse (2/50) = 4% 

  • Creator.Dave Barry: Enough to marry a Jewish woman and respectfully attend her synagogue despite being an atheist.
  • Creator.James Joyce: Joyce (and Stephen Dedalus, Bloom and HCE by extension) had a bit of a fascination with the "Oriental mystique" of Jewish women. (Without mentioning Joyce it would be a straight example)

    Not An Example (2/50) = 4% 

    Unclear (1/50) = 2% 

  • Mad Men Other Characters: Lampshaded. Particularly in the first season, Mad Men acted like Jews were a distant and exotic tribe to the main cast of the show, who, while mostly conservative WASPs, were after all New Yorkers in the advertising business and probably wouldn't have been that befuddled and bedazzled by them. When SC does business with Israel's ministry of tourism, Don arranges lunch with Rachel to pick her brain, and she asks if she's the only Jew he knows in New York. (She is.)

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 21st 2023 at 6:34:51 AM

rmctagg09 The Wanderer from Brooklyn, NY (USA) (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
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#26: Mar 21st 2023 at 10:20:24 PM

Since the name has been changed should the Hot Jew redirect be cut?

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GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
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#27: Mar 22nd 2023 at 12:31:26 AM

[up]I cut it for being misleading. It had no wicks and few inbounds.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 22nd 2023 at 2:31:43 PM

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Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
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#28: Mar 22nd 2023 at 6:10:15 AM

Looks like we only have 127 wicks left.

...and we still need to clean on-page examples.

Edited by Berrenta on Mar 22nd 2023 at 9:03:16 AM

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Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
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#30: Mar 22nd 2023 at 7:52:59 AM

Okay, took care of the on-page misuse. If anyone wants to do a second sweep, go for it.

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#33: Mar 22nd 2023 at 11:47:13 AM

It appears dewicking has been completed. We can close now.

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Trope Repair Shop: Matzo Fever rename
18th Mar '23 9:50:06 AM

Crown Description:

Consensus was to rename Matzo Fever due to misuse. What should its new name be?

Total posts: 34
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