[B5JMS] ATTN JMS: soc.culture.jewish.moderated question

[b5jms-admin at cs.columbia.edu]

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From: "Eliyahu" <lrooff at hotmail.com>
Date: 5 Mar 2001 18:44:29 -0700
Lines: 52



This was part of a discussion today on soc.culture.jewish.moderated. Would
you be so kind as to comment on the second poster's statement here so that I
could share it with the rest of our NG community? My own recollection from
the first few seasons of B5 newsgroup discussion was that while there were
some jokes about CC's name re the role, there was no joke in the character
herself.

Eliyahu Rooff
www.geocities.com/Area51/Underworld/8096/HomePage.htm
RSG Rollcall http://u1.netgate.net/~kirby34/rsg/rooffe.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Goldmarx" <goldmarx at aol.com>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish.moderated
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2001 8:41 PM
Subject: Re: Jews playing Jews on TV and in the movies; a TV commercial


> Kimmel comments:
>
> >Typing away in the wee hours here, the only other recent show that
readily
> >comes to mind that breaks the mold was the science fiction series
"Babylon
> >5."  Besides having their Russian Jewish character sit shiva for her
father
> >in one episode, there was a later show in which a point was made about
the
> >good guys and bad guys being forces of light and darkness.  The Jewish
> >character is shown kindling Chanukah lights.  (And someone I know then
> >calculated that Chanukah would have occurred several weeks early in the
year
> >2259!)
>
>
>    Unfortunately, the character, Ivanova, was played by an actress named
> Claudia Christian, a Gentile, natch.  The whole character should not be
taken
> seriously, since it was a stupid in-joke created by J. Straczynski,
Babylon 5's
> creator.
>
> -->Phil Goldmarx
--
Eliyahu Rooff
www.geocities.com/Area51/Underworld/8096/HomePage.htm
RSG Rollcall http://u1.netgate.net/~kirby34/rsg/rooffe.htm




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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 6 Mar 2001 16:45:16 -0700
Lines: 58

>>    Unfortunately, the character, Ivanova, was played by an actress named
>> Claudia Christian, a Gentile, natch.  The whole character should not be
>taken
>> seriously, since it was a stupid in-joke created by J. Straczynski,
>Babylon 5's
>> creator.

This has to rank in the top one percentile of the top ten percent of stupid
comments I have seen on the net to date.

Because Claudia's last name was Christian, this makes it an in-joke?  You think
I created that character then went around looking for someone named Christian
to play the part?  

Does your mom know you're using her computer when you're supposed to be in bed?

The character was created to be a strong Jewish character.  Period.  To show
that our heritage and our history goes with us to the stars.  We dealt
seriously and with great sensitivity with what it means to be of Eastern
European Jewish heritage.

I cast the best person to walk in the room for that role.  I applied an open
casting rule to all parts, to allow greatest latitude in picking people without
prejudice.  On Crusade we had an actor of Korean descent, Daniel Dai Kim,
portraying a Lieutenant named Matheson.

B5 received several awards from Jewish organizations for its portrayal of Susan
Ivanova.  That aspect was used in sermons and lectures by Rabbis who seemed to
have NO problem taking her seriously.  Her character was the first regular
series character in a futuristic space SF series who was not just Jewish, but a
*practicing* Jew: sitting shiva, lighting the Menorah and consulting (sometimes
reluctantly) with her Rabbi.

A stupid in-joke?

You can sit there and write off an actor and a character just because the actor
who portrayed the character happened to be a Gentile?  Which is in no way
fundamentally different than the many fine Jewish actors who play Gentiles
because the intelligent thing to do is to cast the best actor for the role?

An IN-JOKE?

The problem is not the show's, nor is it the actor's, nor is it the
character's.  The problem is yours.

Sir, and I say this with the love of whatever god you say you believe in, in my
heart... you are an ingnorant, prejudiced putz.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
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