1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910821873703321

Autore

Shemer Yaron

Titolo

Identity, place, and subversion in contemporary Mizrahi cinema in Israel / / Yaron Shemer

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Ann Arbor : , : University of Michigan Press, , [ 2013]

ISBN

0-472-02925-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (303 p.)

Classificazione

PER004030HIS019000

Disciplina

791.43095694

Soggetti

Motion pictures - Israel

Motion pictures - Social aspects - Israel

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

""Contents""; ""Introduction ""; ""Chapter One. Mizrahi Ethnicity and Israeli Cinema ""; ""Chapter Two. The Cinematic Construction of Mizrahi Identity ""; ""Chapter Three. The Mizrahi Space ""; ""Chapter Four. The Absence of Power and the Power of Absence: Victimhood, Struggle and Agency""; ""Chapter Five. Intersectionality and Alliances ""; ""Afterword: What Is Mizrahi in Mizrahi Cinema? ""; ""Appendix 1. Israeli Fimls Cited ""; ""Appendix 2. Interviews""; ""Works Cited ""; ""Index""

Sommario/riassunto

" In Identity, Place, and Subversion in Contemporary Mizrahi Cinema in Israel, Yaron Shemer articulates the modalities through which Mizrahi (Oriental-Jewish or Arab-Jewish) films employ narratives, characters, and space to glean ethnic identities and, often, to redraw ethnic boundaries. This study's approach to Mizrahi ethnicity in Israel then stands in stark contrast to the conventional precept of the societal pastiche in modern Israel and the regnant discourse about the widespread dismissal of ethnic divisions in the country. For decades after the establishment of the State, Israeli films mostly acquiesced with Zionism's dominant discourse whereby the Mizrahi was deemed an inferior other whose "Levantine" culture was believed to pose a threat to the Western-oriented Zionist enterprise. Shemer explores the continuous marginalization of the Mizrahi in contemporary Israeli cinema and the challenge some Mizrahi films offer to the subjugation of this ethnic group. Beyond its textual analysis, the book examines the role cultural policies and institutional power in Israel have recently



played in shaping Mizrahi cinema and the creation of a Mizrahi niche in cinema--a space that defines and contains contesting voices more than it nourishes them. Ultimately, this pioneering work charts a new territory of academic inquiry; Identity, Place, and Subversion in Contemporary Mizrahi Cinema in Israel is designed to facilitate the making of "Mizrahi Cinema" a legitimate, recognized, and vibrant scholarly field"--