Wow, Gentleman's Agreement is just begging to be remade for the 21st century. But which marginalized group to pick? In a way, I think, it wouldn't matter. Discrimination plays out in an almost universal way no matter which group it's against--I recognized a lot of the tactics used here against Jews that are also employed employed against nonwhites and anyone who doesn't identify as straight and cisgender. In that way, this movie is terribly relevant to today, this exact moment in time, as "nice" people who don't think of themselves as racist or sexist or homophobic have to take a good, hard look at their behavior and the behavior they condone in others. If you don't speak up or take a stand, you're part of the problem, no matter how innocent you think yourself.
The plot is pretty straightforward. A celebrated journalist (Gregory Peck, aka the future Atticus Finch. What is it with this guy and civil rights films?) comes to New York City from California and is asked to write a series on antisemitism. He hits on an idea: he'll pretend to be Jewish. Perfect! Then he'll get an inside look. Since he's new in town, nobody will know any different. He quickly discovers all the subtle and not-so-subtle ways Jews are discriminated against. Daily he has to deal with what we today would call "micro-aggressions," in addition to people just outright snubbing him. His girlfriend's nice WASP family, for instance, can't stand that they'll take flack from their nice WASP neighbors and even his girlfriend urges him to "come clean" with them so as to avoid people looking down their noses at her for dating a "Jew." (The fact that he's nonpracticing and not even culturally Jewish is irrelevant. If you're of Jewish extraction, you're treated as inferior. End of story.)
This movie is almost cute in its righteous indignation, from a 21st century perspective. Immediately post-Holocaust, the Jewish cause was the cause celebre and people were feeling deeply sympathetic, enough to examine their own previously breezy anti-Jewish attitudes. Today, we've now seen countless civil rights movements asking for a change in attitudes towards everyone who isn't a white heterosexual Christian male. We're still in the middle of a huge cultural shakeup. I actually think a lot of people today could benefit from watching this film, as preachy as it gets.
Watched: February 17, 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment