ASPartOfMe wrote:
I did not comment because my knowledge of the Virgin Mary is limited. Before reading the article I assumed it was about American identity politics, a fundamentalist Christian version of right-wing cancel culture and that is what piqued my interest.
It isn't. Most American fundamentalist Christians, as far as I can tell, are not even aware of the existence of Palestinian Christians, much less the historical fact that most Palestinian Christians are descended from ancient Jews/Israelites, likely including some of the original Jewish followers of Jesus.
The commenters are most likely either Palestinian Christians or other non-U.S.A. Christians who are aware of the existence of Palestinian Christians.
ASPartOfMe wrote:
Besides antisemitism bleeding in American-style identity politics did bleed in with the objection to "European" actors. Correct me if I am wrong as my knowledge is limited 1. As far as I know, none of the actors are immigrants from Europe
Dunno if they are immigrants from Europe (
some though not most Israelis, currently, are immigrants from Europe), but they are Israelis, and Israel was founded by white European Jews.
Of course, even most Ashkenazi Jews are more closely related, genetically, to most Palestinians than to most non-Jewish white Europeans. However, one of the ways that Zionism was historically "sold," first to British government and then subsequently to the U.S. government, was that Israel would be a reliable ally, first of British imperialism and subsequently of American domination. Thus, Israel is seen, by most people in the Middle East, as a
de facto Western (first European, now American) colonial project.
ASPartOfMe wrote:
2. While the Jewish religion was quite different as was everything else two centuries ago
I assume you meant to say two millennia ago?
ASPartOfMe wrote:
it would seem likely that the Virgin Mary would identify as Jewish if people identified members of groups then because that was the dominant religion in that time and place
That is correct, although "Palestine" was already the Roman name of the province.
ASPartOfMe wrote:
and Palestinian Nationalism was 1900 years in the future.
"Palestine," as one of the names of the region, is actually much older. See Wikipedia article on
Palestine (region):
Quote:
The first written records referring to Palestine emerged in the 12th-century BCE Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt, which used the term Peleset for a neighboring people or land. In the 8th century BCE, the Assyrians referred to a region as Palashtu or Pilistu. In the Hellenistic period, these names were carried over into Greek, appearing in the Histories of Herodotus in 5th century BCE as Palaistine.
And, while what we know today as "Palestinian nationalism" is only one century old, most Palestinians do have ancestors who have lived there for millennia.
ASPartOfMe wrote:
If the depictions are inauthentic is more likely it will be because it is a 2024 film trying to depict events around the year zero, rather than the actors religion or race.
That is true (except for the technical quibble that there was no
year zero.).
Nevertheless, the story being portrayed is the foundational story of Christianity, not of Judaism. So, from a cultural heritage point of view, the most appropriate actors would be Palestinian Christians.
(On the other hand, hopefully the next Moses movie will cast Moses as a Jew, and preferably a Levite. By today's standards, Charlton Heston was inappropriate casting of Moses. While Moses is an important figure in Christianity as well as Judaism, he is nowhere nearly
as important in Christianity as he is in Judaism.)
Yes I meant two millennia. I did not think I needed to spell out exactly why my original assumption about who was complaining about the casting was wrong because because it was obviously not coming from the same people who were complaining about the “war on Christmas” a few years back.
Well if Charlton Heston’s portrayal of Moses is inappropriate by todays standards because he is a Gentile, nobody has told the Jews about this. It will be up to Christians to decide the appropriateness of
.
14 Nov 2024, 8:24 pm
