Welcome back to Jane Looking Forward. If you wish to continue reading this weekly newsletter, please subscribe here. And spread the word! There’s no lack of depressing stories about Jews in the news these days — Jared Kushner’s meltdown, Benjamin Netanyahu’s continuing legal woes, the great Oscar snub — but I’ll get to those later….
In 2016, my roommate and I became friends over movies: Trapped in our top-floor apartment by a weekend blizzard, we watched “The Princess Diaries” and “Cinderella,” two ambitious young women briefly surrendering to the fantasy of being princesses in a tower. The snow melted, and we went back to work, but the bond was sealed….
Casually tossing aside the taboo of recycling an outfit, Rita Moreno — who is supposedly of crypto-Jewish descent — wore the same dress to the Oscars that she wore 55 years ago. At the 1962 Oscars, for which Ms. Moreno was nominated (and won) as Best Supporting Actress for her performance in West Side Story,…
There were only a few Jewish Oscar nominees in the biggest categories this year and all of them went home empty-handed on Sunday night. Daniel Day Lewis, nominated for his role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread”, and Timothee Chalamet, nominated for his role in “Call Me by Your Name”, both lost “Best Actor” to…
A Swarovski-encrusted, bloated night of semi-redemption, the 90th Academy Awards paid unusual attention to women and immigrants. However, the show reserved the usual amounts of attention for the kind of slavish self-praise that reminds viewers that the unifying trait for all Oscar participants is that they enjoy magnificent wealth in a world where children starve…
The Academy Awards have long served as a platform for activists to voice their discontent to an audience of millions — even if the Academy’s board hasn’t always felt positively about such stunts. Ironically, however, according to a March 1 Hyperallergic article by Rooney Elmi, the awards have nefarious origins: They were apparently created by…
As the Academy Awards declare their winners this weekend, I start my annual plea for inclusion of people with Disabilities in Hollywood. It has been over 30 years since Marlee Matlin won her Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Children of a Lesser God. She is the last actress with a recognizable physical…
We’re contractually obligated to remind you that it’s Oscars week. It’s also Purim. And, since the Forward’s weekly “Read, Watch, and Do” piece already touched on the lingering questions surrounding this year’s awards, let’s instead take a minute to remember Christopher Guest’s mockumentary classic “For Your Consideration” (2006). In the film, three actors come to…
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