{"title":"Representations of Refuseniks and Soviet Jewish Emigration in GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling","authors":"Thaïs Miller","doi":"10.13110/jewifilmnewmedi.8.1.0048","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch's Netflix series, GLOW (2017–), reimagines the production of GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (1986–1989), the first US professional wrestling show with an all-female cast. The Netflix series can be understood as historiographic metafiction: a reimagining of the past that captures a new perspective enlightened by hindsight. In season 1, episode 6, \"This Is One of Those Moments,\" Ruth Wilder (played by Alison Brie) unwittingly attends an unconventional bris thrown by Soviet Jews and refuseniks who have resettled in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Ruth constantly misreads and misinterprets the people and situations around her. Her subsequent misunderstanding is rendered comically and serves as a symbol for postmodern disorientation. Executive producer and guest writer Jenji Kohan incorporates mockery, ridicule, and hyperbole in a display of the self-deprecating, self-critical, and dark elements of Jewish humor in representing the position of refuseniks and Soviet Jewish émigrés in the United States. Engaging with diverse theories on Jewish humor in postmodern television, this article focuses on the relationship between suffering and celebration, intention and reality, and ancient ritual and modernity. This one episode epitomizes how these elements are performed and represented, forcing the audience to question what is genuine and what is forced or fake. Despite the characters' best efforts to attain authenticity, they continue to struggle to understand, belong, and interpret the cultures surrounding them.","PeriodicalId":40351,"journal":{"name":"Jewish Film & New Media-An International Journal","volume":"33 1","pages":"48 - 76"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Jewish Film & New Media-An International Journal","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.13110/jewifilmnewmedi.8.1.0048","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
ABSTRACT:Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch's Netflix series, GLOW (2017–), reimagines the production of GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (1986–1989), the first US professional wrestling show with an all-female cast. The Netflix series can be understood as historiographic metafiction: a reimagining of the past that captures a new perspective enlightened by hindsight. In season 1, episode 6, "This Is One of Those Moments," Ruth Wilder (played by Alison Brie) unwittingly attends an unconventional bris thrown by Soviet Jews and refuseniks who have resettled in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Ruth constantly misreads and misinterprets the people and situations around her. Her subsequent misunderstanding is rendered comically and serves as a symbol for postmodern disorientation. Executive producer and guest writer Jenji Kohan incorporates mockery, ridicule, and hyperbole in a display of the self-deprecating, self-critical, and dark elements of Jewish humor in representing the position of refuseniks and Soviet Jewish émigrés in the United States. Engaging with diverse theories on Jewish humor in postmodern television, this article focuses on the relationship between suffering and celebration, intention and reality, and ancient ritual and modernity. This one episode epitomizes how these elements are performed and represented, forcing the audience to question what is genuine and what is forced or fake. Despite the characters' best efforts to attain authenticity, they continue to struggle to understand, belong, and interpret the cultures surrounding them.
摘要:Liz Flahive和Carly Mensch的Netflix剧集《GLOW》(2017 -)重新演绎了美国第一部全女性演员的职业摔跤节目《GLOW:华丽的摔跤女士》(1986-1989)的制作过程。Netflix的这部电视剧可以被理解为史学上的元小说:对过去的重新想象,捕捉到后见之明的新视角。在第一季第六集“这是那些时刻之一”(This Is One of Those Moments)中,露丝·怀尔德(Ruth Wilder,艾莉森·布里(Alison Brie)饰演)无意中参加了一场非常规的割礼,这场割礼是20世纪80年代在洛杉矶定居的苏联犹太人和难民举办的。露丝经常误读和误解她周围的人和情况。她随后的误解被滑稽地呈现出来,并成为后现代迷失方向的象征。执行制片人兼特约作家Jenji Kohan将嘲弄、嘲笑和夸张融入到自嘲、自我批评和犹太幽默的黑暗元素中,代表了在美国的拒绝者和苏联犹太人的地位。本文结合后现代电视中关于犹太幽默的各种理论,重点探讨了苦难与庆祝、意图与现实、古代仪式与现代之间的关系。这一集集中体现了这些元素是如何被表演和表现的,迫使观众质疑什么是真实的,什么是被迫的或虚假的。尽管角色们尽了最大的努力来获得真实性,但他们仍然在努力理解、归属和解释他们周围的文化。
期刊介绍:
Jewish Film & New Media provides an outlet for research into any aspect of Jewish film, television, and new media and is unique in its interdisciplinary nature, exploring the rich and diverse cultural heritage across the globe. The journal is distinctive in bringing together a range of cinemas, televisions, films, programs, and other digital material in one volume and in its positioning of the discussions within a range of contexts—the cultural, historical, textual, and many others.