Re: Film, "The Governess" -Reply

[Peter Rushefsky <rushefsky_p...>]

I agree with Ari's point about the use of Hebrew language by shtetl
Jews, but why couldn't the use of  modern Israeli music in the Schindler
soundtrack be seen as a legitimate artistic choice by Mr. Spielberg (I
have to admit, it's been a while since I saw the movie, so I don't think
I'm able to evaluate this as an artistic choice)?

>>> Ben Gidley <ucs01bg (at) scorpio(dot)gold(dot)ac(dot)uk> 11/30/98 10:35am 
>>> >>>
I haven't seen th Governess yet so these comments are kind of oblique...

 1. Isn't it weird that there's this sudden explosion of "Jewish"
themed films lately. Ari's mention of Shindler makes me wonder if that
was when it all started
 2. Is there anything wrong with "anachronistic" scored music (La
Reine Margot (released in the US as "Queen Margot" I believe) is a good
example of a superb score that conveys something of the time it depicts
while not being in any way a representaion of the music of that time)?
 3. On the other hand, anachronistic music that is performed
within the film's action (particularly in a religious context) rather
than on the score is a different matter, often revealing cultural
insensitivity (as in Shindler's List's
> use of modern Israeli music in the 
> soundtrack, and by the family in the ghetto speaking Hebrew. 
> Spielberg may not yet have discovered that they are different
> languages.
 which can lead to all Jews being lumped together into one 
monolithic timeless block, or (as Ari notes) all non-Ashkenazi Jews 
being lumped into categories that don't mean much.

 5. In Britain, Sephardic Jews were very in the dominant position 
vis a vis Ashkenazim and this was a major factor, in the early years of 
this century, for the rapid weekening of Yiddish culture here. The 
Jewish community's cultural elite were very worried about the bad name 
their newly arrived Yiddish-speaking cousins gave them - I have read of 
instances where Yiddish theatre troups were bribed to go to New York and

printers of Yiddish newpapers like Polisher Yidl and Arbeiter Fraint 
were bribed to sabotage their products!

Benjamin