Gossip Girl and the Jews

Deborah Solomon interviews Josh Schwartz and asks my question about the show:

Why are the characters uniformly white, with old-money names like Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen that hark back to a time when high society was not integrated? Why are there no Jewish characters? It’s interesting, because on “The O.C.” I went out of my way to make those characters Jewish, not what you would expect to find in Orange County. But in New York, weirdly, I failed. I was working off of the source material.

Fair enough, but if accurate this just seems like a serious flaw in the source material. Asking for Jewish characters in a depiction of rich people in New York City isn't a plea for diversity for diversity's sake, it's just that New York day schools are full of Jews.

Comments

Asking for Jewish characters in a depiction of rich people in New York City isn't a plea for diversity for diversity's sake, it's just that New York day schools are full of Jews.

In reality, that's true. But keep in mind that the plea for every new TV show is that it will "play in Peoria." The wide swatch of the TV-watching audience doesn't have any first or second-hand experience with elite private schools in Manhattan, and TV shows that market to that audience are going to feed into the preconceived notions of what they think that elite Manhattan life is like.

Somewhere, I'm sure there's an audience of people that want to watch a program about high schools populated entirely with students with names like Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen, because that's what they think it is like on the UES, and Gossip Girl apparently fulfills that niche.

Posted by Tyro | October 14, 2007 3:04 PM

(shrug) You can ask all such questions - like why did Seinfeld live in a a black-person-free version of NYC?

The answer's the same: it's white folks' dream.

And of course, they'll call anyone who brings up the question "oversensitive".

Posted by sherifffruitfly | October 14, 2007 3:14 PM

Er.. the source material was written by Cecily VON Ziegesar. Writting about her vision of a perfect world. Is that enough of a clue for a Harvard Grad?

Posted by Don Williams | October 14, 2007 3:17 PM

A remarkably trivial post about fictitious upper class navel gazing.

We know Yglesias is headed for the MSM now.

Posted by HeavyJ | October 14, 2007 3:20 PM

The wide swatch of the TV-watching audience doesn't have any first or second-hand experience with elite private schools in Manhattan, and TV shows that market to that audience are going to feed into the preconceived notions of what they think that elite Manhattan life is like.

This nails it. The perception of the Upper East Side and the Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard to the vast majority of the county is old money WASP, the reality of wealth in New York isn't what's important in entertainment, perception is.

And it's just a TV show.

Posted by mdy | October 14, 2007 3:22 PM

sherifffruitfly echoes my sentiment. seinfeld and friends had plenty of jews, but actually going to manhattan (as a person from a very white state) and it is hilarious how many colored people there are walking around.

Posted by razib | October 14, 2007 3:29 PM

Abe Foxman warned Matthew about Mearsheimer and Walt --but would Matt listen? Nooooo.

Now see what happens -- Mrs Von Something is writing him out of Upper East Side high society.

Of course, Mearsheimer and Walt are mere college professors. Gossip Girls, on the other hand, is a real threat. Next thing you know, Hillary will be putting Haim Saban on hold -- or telling Haim to fetch his own goddamm soft drinks.

Posted by Don Williams | October 14, 2007 3:32 PM

What, no Friday Night Lights blogging? Good plot lines abound: Buddy's decent into his own moral turpitude, the ongoing Lyla/Riggins coupling, Coach Taylor being the Coach we all love, but the husband we are starting to detest, Mrs. Taylor as the saintly wife with problems abounding, young Taylor breaking up with the perfect boyfriend for the one that will inevitably break her heart (although one can't help but empathize, seeing as her football dad is not even around and she sees Matt becoming him), Matt's new hot Latina live-in nurse who Matt will obviously have a thing for, and finally whether or not FNL has truly jumped the shark with the murder and its aftermath.

Honestly, this episode made me feel a little better about it all.

Posted by eggman | October 14, 2007 3:33 PM

Re " like why did Seinfeld live in a a black-person-free version of NYC?"
-----------

Maybe Kramer (Michael Richards) influenced the scriptwriters to create his perfect world --see http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2006/11/21/entertainment/34seinfeld34-star-richards-under-fire-for-racial-outburst.html&template=/news/templates/newswire/news_story_reuters.html

Posted by Don Williams | October 14, 2007 3:42 PM

It's the Pumpkin effect noted by Philip Roth. Jews have these blonde fantasies.

NOTE: "Pumpkin" was the nickname one of Roth's characters gave to his uber-honky girlfriend.

Posted by John Emerson | October 14, 2007 3:53 PM

"sherifffruitfly echoes my sentiment. seinfeld and friends had plenty of jews, but actually going to manhattan (as a person from a very white state) and it is hilarious how many colored people there are walking around"

It depends what neighborhood. Take a stroll through the UWS on a Saturday afternoon: mostly white/asian. Same is true of most upscale residential neighborhoods in Manhattan -- you might have a black guy selling some stuff on the sidewalk in front of Zabars, but the neighborhood's pretty white, with a splash of yellow.

Posted by Juan | October 14, 2007 4:12 PM

Haven't seen the show (since it's not on C-SPAN or ESPN). But the original post seems pretty clear--this is Ann Coulter's NYC. The Jews have been perfected--right down to those funny names.

Posted by JohnMcC | October 14, 2007 4:17 PM

"Maybe Kramer (Michael Richards) influenced the scriptwriters to create his perfect world"

Seinfeld was actually realistic: people who live in an incredibly diverse city like New York hang out (for the most part) with people who are a lot like them. How many black people do you think Matt hung out with at Dalton? So it's entirely realistic that the main characters wouldn't have many black friends. There were some recurring minor black characters though: the lawyer Jackie Giles, the CFO of J.Peterman, etc.

I doubt Michael Richards dislikes blacks anymore than the average person; his recorded rant was career-killing mistake driven by an attempt to strike back at some obnoxious black hecklers who humiliated him on stage. What he said was stupid and offensive but no more proof of him being a racist than, say, you calling your girlfriend a bitch in the heat of fight means you are a misogynist.

Posted by Juan | October 14, 2007 4:23 PM

"It's the Pumpkin effect noted by Philip Roth

If he didn't bring her home before midnight, he turned into a giant breast?

"it is hilarious how many colored people there are walking around."

I just have this image of razib coming out of Grand Central Station and exclaiming the above . . . .

But it does show how one's (presumably) early environment affects one's sense of normal. I grew up in the Bronx, and when I went up the Hudson to a rather white liberal arts college, I had this constant low-grade sense of subtle bizarreness/wrongness - it was hilarious how many white people there were walking around, regardless of being one of 'em.

"it's just that New York day schools are full of Jews.

Amusingly, I went to a rather low-end, failing private school in Washington Heights for a few years where we were rather under-represented, and even had someone ask me - apparently in all seriousness - for reassurance that the whole jews-horns thing really wasn't true - but that's a whole 'nother thing.

Posted by Dan S. | October 14, 2007 4:24 PM

Heh.

Old Conventional Wisdom:

The only way white folks could be racist was by called black folks "nigger". Anything less, and the rules of (im)Plausible Deniability would come into play.

New Conventional Wisdom:

Even calling black folks "nigger" doesn't make white folks racist.

Just come out and say it you fucking wusses: You don't think there's either any racism, nor that there's much wrong with it. Just admit it, you fucking cowards.

Posted by sherifffruitfly | October 14, 2007 4:31 PM

Juan, how many Asians were actually portrayed in Seinfeld? I don't recall any of the characters ever dating anyone Asian and an Asian woman and a white male is the most common interracial relationship in the US (at least among married couples). It's like how it took forever before any Asian characters to show up on ER.

"I doubt Michael Richards dislikes blacks anymore than the average person; his recorded rant was career-killing mistake driven by an attempt to strike back at some obnoxious black hecklers who humiliated him on stage. What he said was stupid and offensive but no more proof of him being a racist than, say, you calling your girlfriend a bitch in the heat of fight means you are a misogynist.

Posted by Juan | October 14, 2007 4:23 PM"

I admit to having called my Latina ex-girlfriend a bitch a few times while arguing, but somehow I missed how it would have been somehow acceptable to call her some anti-Latin slur. Who the hell brings someone's race into something like that? A racist. I've been in argument with black people before, but it never popped into my head, "how about I call them the n word? That's a good idea!"

Posted by Reality Man | October 14, 2007 4:38 PM

I think either Jerry or George dated an asian woman lawyer at one point. She ended up taking the case of the asian delivery guy who was suing Elaine for hitting him with her car.

Posted by mad6798j | October 14, 2007 4:46 PM

HeavyJ sez:

"We know Yglesias is headed for the MSM now."

Hell, I've assumed for months that the blogs *are* the main stream medium.

The MSM are mostly crazy uncles living in America's cultural attic, fer crissakes.

Posted by David Lloyd-Jones | October 14, 2007 4:56 PM

"I think either Jerry or George dated an asian woman lawyer at one point."

Actually, they both did. George dated her first and asked Jerry to deliberately be unfunny when they were all together to not show him up. Then the Asian girl became attracted to Jerry's unfunny persona.

Jerry also dated a Native American at one point, and in that episode there was an Asian American mailman.

Posted by Juan | October 14, 2007 5:13 PM

So let's see, 9 seasons, Jerry averaging a new woman every other episode, Elaine and George a new one about every three episodes and Kramer one every four (estimating), and we have a grand total of... 2 non-white love interests and a white guy Elaine thought was black.

Posted by Reality Man | October 14, 2007 5:23 PM

If you read today's Clark Hoyt column, you'll see that "Deborah Solomon interviews..." isn't really the right way to describe what goes on in her column. Hoyt really rips into Solomon, as far as conventions allow.

Posted by Matt Weiner | October 14, 2007 5:30 PM

"This nails it. The perception of the Upper East Side and the Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard to the vast majority of the county is old money WASP, the reality of wealth in New York isn't what's important in entertainment, perception is.

And it's just a TV show.

Posted by mdy | October 14, 2007 3:22 PM"

Isn't this the same segment of the population that hates New York because it's full of rich, educated, bleeding-heart liberal Jews? Do they really know the difference between the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side?

Posted by Reality Man | October 14, 2007 5:38 PM

ah, another post whose principal purpose is to remind us that matt's parents are rich. next: reminders that he went to harvard!

Posted by a commenter | October 14, 2007 6:16 PM

Isn't this the same segment of the population that hates New York because it's full of rich, educated, bleeding-heart liberal Jews? Do they really know the difference between the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side?

I don't think there's much broad anti-Semitism like that in America anymore or actual hatred but I do think most people are annoyed by the idea of an elite class of wealthy people who read the NYT, drink lattes, and so on as the stereotype goes when everyone else feels like a relative workaday stiff.

I don't think most people know the difference between the UES and UWS. Not being from NY, I didn't really get it until saw it with my own eyes.

Posted by mdy | October 14, 2007 6:25 PM

regarding seinfeld, there was also the donna chang(stein) episode where a woman enjoyed being confused for chinese. also, there was the chinese restaurant episode, the entirety of which was waiting for a table. seinfeld, table for four!

Posted by i like to watch | October 14, 2007 6:31 PM

I've visited New York once in my life. What is the difference between the UES and the UWS? This kind of neighborhood-by-neighborhood stuff really doesn't make a big difference to anybody else. I mean, how many New Yorkers know the difference between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach? Echo Park and Silver Lake? Pomona and Claremont? Chatsworth and Northridge?

I like how after numerous Asian-less doctor shows and Asian-less shows set in San Francisco, the producers of Grey's Anatomy saw fit to put one, count 'em, one Asian in the cast of a doctor show set in San Francisco.

Posted by Adam Villani | October 14, 2007 6:39 PM

Adam, your point stands, but Grey's is set in Seattle (or so my g/f tells me...I've never seen the show)

Posted by Greg | October 14, 2007 8:16 PM

I'll bite: What is the difference between the Upper West Side and the Upper East Side? And I'm actually from the Northeast (New England) and spent five weeks in New York City doing research for my dissertation, mainly at the New-York Historical Society which, if I understand correctly, is on the Upper West Side. I imagine a Midwesterner or Southerner or Westerner would be even more clueless.

Posted by James Kabala | October 14, 2007 8:29 PM

Well, shows set in San Francisco never have Philipinos, Vietnamese, Cambodians, or East Indians/Pakistanis, and rarely have Mexicans or Chinese.

Also, in Seinfeld, didn't Elaine date Gregory Hines? Also, didn't they address this same "no African-Americans on Seinfeld" issue when George tried to have a black friend?

Posted by adlsad | October 14, 2007 8:48 PM

I second the commendation of a great 2.2 FNL episode. The disastrous Landry-Tyra storyline will hopefully fade. Loved Coach Taylor as a lowly college assistant taking the problem player to the disciplinary hearings. Enjoyed Tyra as a born again. Hopefully Matt will get a shot at the hot live-in nursing aide.

Posted by Mike | October 14, 2007 9:17 PM

"So let's see, 9 seasons, Jerry averaging a new woman every other episode, Elaine and George a new one about every three episodes and Kramer one every four (estimating), and we have a grand total of... 2 non-white love interests and a white guy Elaine thought was black."

Well Kramer dated a black woman at one point.

Posted by mad6798j | October 14, 2007 9:24 PM

There may be plenty of Jews at day schools like Dalton and Horace Mann, but the old-money single sex schools like Nightingale, the one Zieseger's daughter went to, definitely have a more WASPY vibe to 'em.

Posted by Fellow-ette | October 14, 2007 11:03 PM

Ach, you're right, Grey's is set in Seattle. Not sure where I got the idea it was in San Francisco. I've never watched it, myself. Anyway, yeah, lots of San Francisco shows, lots of doctor shows, and both are still very white. Journeyman, set in San Francisco, at least has one half-Asian in the cast (but, of course, no Latinos. I think if you believed what you saw on TV, Latinos in California only live in Los Angeles, not San Francisco.)

Posted by Adam Villani | October 15, 2007 2:45 AM

Just want to comment that there is actually a great deal of Jewish people in "the OC". From unmentionable parts of orange county to the heart of the eponymous show. But anyway, all of this isn't new, *gasp* minorities being underrepresented in shows.

Posted by Another Greg | October 15, 2007 3:00 AM

What he said was stupid and offensive but no more proof of him being a racist than, say, you calling your girlfriend a bitch in the heat of fight means you are a misogynist.

Uh, yeah, if you call any woman a bitch in the heat of an argument, then I'd say that is pretty sound evidence of some anti-woman sentiments. You can muse about whether it makes you "a" misogynist, but it's certainly a misogynistic thing to say. Likewise, I'm not sure whether Richards is "a" racist, but his "stupid and offensive" tirade definitely was racist.

Posted by tps12 | October 15, 2007 2:49 PM