How come there are rarely any jewish 'bad guys'

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Has anyone ever noticed this?

Russians, Koreans, Christians, Muslims, Chinese, Europeans, Arabs and basically any other group are portrayed as bad guys but you never really see the bad guys being identified as jewish.

Only reason I am bringing it up is that I remembered Passion of the Christ was labeled as anti-semitic and I finally got around to seeing it. I dont see why there was a big issue over it back in the day, it seemed relatively close to the bible stories… The roman soldiers were probably portrayed worse and no one really cared.

And it just got me thinking that Ive come to realize that I dont think I have really seen a movie or tv show where they have ever been the main baddies. If Passion of the Christ was labeled as anti-semitic for its portrayal makes me wonder what the reception would be.

Closest I can think of is Magneto but he is portrayed in a way that you can sympathize with him as he is just getting his revenge against the non-mutants who persecuted him.
 
Honestly? Probably because they’re not normally thought of as intimidating.

The Russians, Chinese, Koreans and Arabs are notorious for suffering from considerable corruption and mafia syndicates operating within their countries. A Russian Mafia is a ready made believable enemy.

Koreans and Chinese (and to a lesser degree Arabs) still retain an element of the “unknowable orient”, a mysterious and exotic edge that can be played up to make them more alien.

Islam and Christianity are both known for at times in their history for promoting an all or nothing, no compromises mindset where their absolutist/tyrannical views are or have been imposed by the threat of violence. This is the very antithesis of what democratic western societies value so again makes them a believable and relatable antagonist.

The Jews have spent most of their history being persecuted and pushed around the globe, for most of history they have held little real direct political power either so they really aren’t an object of fear or mistrust the same way an Islamic Caliphate might be.
 
If we’re actually compiling a list of Jewish villains in popular culture, we can start with Fagin in Oliver Twist.
 
There are many Jewish actors who play heavies. Generally, Jewish actors/writers/directors aim for generic themes and do not identify characters as Jewish. Most Jews in the West are very well assimilated.
 
DaveBj said:
If we’re actually compiling a list of Jewish villains in popular culture, we can start with Fagin in Oliver Twist.
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Or how about Shylock in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”?

My surname is an uncommon Jewish name. Recently a girl checking me out in a store, eyebrows raised over my surname, told me it was the name of the main villain in a movie, and when I looked it up she was correct, LOL.😛
 
DaveBj said:
If we’re actually compiling a list of Jewish villains in popular culture, we can start with Fagin in Oliver Twist.
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I never read the book. I always thought Fagin was an Irish name (a twist – pardon! – on “Fagan”).
 
John_Lazarus said:
I never read the book. I always thought Fagin was an Irish name (a twist – pardon! – on “Fagan”).
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I’ve not read the book either, but Ron Moody’s portrayal of Fagin in the musical Oliver was very Jewish, and in a more recent TV movie/miniseries of Oliver Twist after Fagin is imprisoned, he identifies himself as a Jew from, if I remember right, Czechoslovakia. According to Wikipedia, Fagin is referred to as “the Jew” in the text of the novel itself.
 
What? Jewish villains are a trope in older literature and stories. If I had to guess I’d say we don’t see them so often anymore because it’s been done to death.

I don’t known how one would depict a Jewish villain without using tired stereotypes or contrived scenes with the sole purpose of establishing get the villains religion.
 
Rhubarb said:
What? Jewish villains are a trope in older literature and stories. If I had to guess I’d say we don’t see them so often anymore because it’s been done to death.

I don’t known how one would depict a Jewish villain without using tired stereotypes or contrived scenes with the sole purpose of establishing get the villains religion.
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I see what you mean. Judaism is a religion, the practitioners have been any number of nationalities.

While Siegel, Lansky and the like were undoubtedly Jewish, they were undoubtedly of a particular nationality as well. Lansky sounds Russian, so he can possibly be seen more as a forerunner of today’s so-called Russian mafia than uniquely Jewish.

Rarely is religion a defining feature of a ‘bad guy’ except for Islam. May as well say ‘why are there no Buddhist bad guys’ or ‘why are there no Hindu bad guys’
 
Trust me, there are plenty of ‘bad’ Jewish guys, in NY and NJ, some of the Jewish community have strong ties to organized crime, (mainly the Italian Mafia), they may not appear to be bad on the surface, but are involved in alot of white collar type crime, like money laundering, scams, various methods of theft, fraud, etc.

My grandpa on my mothers side of the family lives in NJ, ( my moms side is 100% Italian), he is 74 yrs old and been in jail for about 3 years now, for racketeering and money laundering charges, It was not a surprise, since I was 10 yrs old Ive known he was involved in the mafia.

Jewish people just dont appear to be ‘bad’, that is one reason I think they are probably so successful when they do decide to get involved in criminal activity, they just dont look like criminals! LOL
 
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