There’s an old saying in the Jewish community, that you can have two Jews and three opinions. We’re not known for quietly disagreeing and as a result many of us have found ourselves loudly disagreeing over the latest incidence of “Jewface”.
For the blissfully unaware, Jewface is when a non-Jewish actor is accused of exaggerating “Jewish” characteristics to play a Jewish character. It was something identified by the American comedian Sarah Silverman, as well as the author David Baddiel. The most recent iteration of this feisty debate is whether Bradley Cooper, who is starring in a new biopic about the Jewish conductor Leonard Bernstein, should be allowed to wear a fake nose to closer resemble the musical legend.
If the people who knew Bernstein best, his children, don’t have a problem with his nose, why should anyone else?
It’s a row that comes back around over and over again, because it inspires such strong reactions. I, personally, think acting is acting and if a non-Jewish actor can deliver a faithful representation of the person then they should be as entitled as anyone else to do it.
But there’s a strain of thought that seeks to draw lines about who can play who and what level of Jewish someone has to be to deliver an “authentic” performance. And this school sees Cooper’s nose as an exaggeration of harmful Jewish stereotypes.
To be clear, there’s no “proper” way for a Jew to look. We come from all over the world, some have big noses, some have small. Bernstein, as it happens, had a larger than average one. Acting is about escapism, is about losing yourself in an actor’s portrayal of a person, even if you know what they look like in real life. And to do that, sometimes you need make-up.
If the people who knew Bernstein best, his children, don’t have a problem with his nose, then why should anyone else? It’s something that once would’ve passed by without comment.
The sight of Cooper’s usually perfect face being in character may be offensive to some, but we shouldn’t let the minority dictate where the line is for us. The majority of people who saw the trailer, and who will see the film, will see the nose for what it is — a piece of costume and nothing more.
