Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Misused
, started by Tuomas on Jul 26th 2016 at 12:02:34 PM
Not that kind of doctor
What are the bounds of this trope? The description sounds like it's specifically about either (A) Jewish people being portrayed as generally more attractive than those of other ethnicities/religions or (B) a particular non-Jewish person who finds Jewish people as more attractive. However, many of the current examples seem to boil down to "Character A is in love with character B, who is Jewish" without any indication that their Jewishness has any bearing on the romantic relationship.
These examples don't seem to fit the trope. By my reading of the trope description, there would need to be some evidence that (A) a non-Jewish person has a pattern of relationships with Jewish people, (B) there is a pattern of (multiple) Jewish characters in a work being portrayed as unusually attractive, or (C) an explicit acknowledgement that one or more characters are attracted to Jewish people in general. Otherwise, "Character A loves Jewish Character B" may have absolutely nothing to do with the person being Jewish.
Should such examples be removed?
gatotsu2501
As a Jew, I am deeply offended that this page is accompanied by a banner ad for lronhubbard.org.
Edited by gatotsu2501 Hide / Show Replies
Google does the ads, sorry.
That was the amazing part. Things just keep going.
Removed:
- Rebecca in Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott makes it Older Than Radio. Rebecca seems to go for Ivanhoe, but he's only got eyes for his gentile maiden Rowena. Rebecca/Ivanhoe is generally the Fan-Preferred Couple. Walter Scott was quite aware of the fans' feeling toward the Rebecca/Ivanhoe pairing, to the point that her felt it necessary to explain just why Ivanhoe and Rebecca could not possibly have married. It was also rumored that the character Rebecca was based off of real life Jewish beauty Rebecca Gratz.
Ivanhoe isn't interested in Rebecca, so it's not an example. This would be closer to a gender-inverted Shiksa Goddess, since it's Rebecca mooning over the gentile Ivanhoe.
Edited by CaptainCrawdad
I don't see that a hate figure is within the scope of the trope. This seems like Square Peg Round Trope.
- The anti-Semitic counterpart to this, the Jewish Seductress, was popular in German literature between the World Wars. The Landser literature is full of it, and it also appears prominently in Gustav Meyrink's classic of fantastic literature, The Golem. While Mirjam, the rabbi's daughter, is the archetypal good girl, red-haired Rosina is at once seductive and evil, and gives the hero creepy erotic fantasies. Apparently, even the Nazis were torn on this one.
It is clear from the discussion on getting rid of real life examples that there is no good reason whatsoever for doing so, instead the decision is because of the prejudices of a handful of dictatorial people.
Camacan, whence the implication that Meyrink was a Nazi? Aside from dying before Hitler took power, Der Golem is too nuanced to count as anti-Semitic literature.
Diversion
If we need another example picture for this at some point, I suggest Gina Bellman of Leverage and Coupling fame.
Tumblr|deviantArt|How to Be a furry Hide / Show Replies
Come to think of it, why is the current picture what it is? Sure, the character in question is more clearly Jewish if you're just going on looks, but I thought this trope was a gender-flip of Shiksa Goddess. Did I misunderstand something about the two tropes?
Hmm, I can't really tell they're Jewish from the picture alone. Is there any indication I'm missing?
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Restrict to in-universe
, started by Routerie on May 1st 2011 at 6:35:47 PM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman