Jews in Fanfic

[mofic]

I imagine we have a number of fanfic authors in this community. I'd love to hear how folks deal with Jewish issues in writing fanfic, if at all and any related thoughts on the topic

Comments

[giandujakiss]

Some of my fave fics are ones that bring Jewish mythology and/or religious practices into the story - I'm not very religious, so I actually find these educational. And I think it makes a really nice change from a lot of fics that are Christian-centered, usually because the mythology of the particular show is Christian-centered (like Supernatural, which uses exorcism rituals, etc.).

So, for example, even though Starsky's religion was never explicitly stated on the show (although it was strongly implied), there are some fantastic fics in which Starsky discusses his religion. And rivkat wrote a wonderful golem story in the SPN-verse.

[newredshoes]

Ooh -- do you have a link to the SPN golem story, perchance?

[giandujakiss]

Here. I love it, but warning- it's Wincest.

[newredshoes]

Ah -- thanks for the heads-up. And the link!

[mamadeb]

I've had Jewish characters in my fanfiction (not counting Blair Sandburg, of course.) Sometimes I've made them observant - there was one long X-Files story where I had a religious woman as a victim of a serial kiler, which meant I had to find out what would happen if an autopsy was necessary, and so I had a hospital chaplain to tell Scully what to do (do an extremely thorough job and keep track of everything so that disinterment would not be necessary, plus make sure everything could eventually be buried with her) and to take care of the grieving husband

[eumelia]

Do you happen to have a link to the Snape-as-Jewish fic?

I love those, and I think I've only read two.

Thanks in advance.

and just to show my appreciation, here are the other stories (that I know of) in which Snape is Jewish:
here, EllieD has written a series in which Snape is Jewish, so I count it as one story for convenience.
And "Breeding Lilacs our of Dead Land" by Areola at Ashwinder.

[mamadeb]

25th Day.

I'm reasonably proud of this one, even though it's been thoroughly Jossed.

[rydra_wong]

My favorite was Esperanto...

*dies*

[gnomi]

I explored Toby Ziegler's Jewishness in a story I wrote a while ago. He's really the only explicitly Jewish character I've ever written in fanfic.

(Original fiction is a totally different category here; both of my main characters in my main original fiction universe are Jewish.)

[devohoneybee]

I wrote a Highlander story in which Methos, while not explicitly Jewish, spent time as a mere youth of a thousand with Avraham, and witnessed the Akeda. There was also an out-take ficlet in which he lights a yarzheit candle for his gazzilion dead. If anyone is interested, my story page is linked at the bottom of my lj. Methos "read" as somewhat Jewish to me partly because of the issues of grief and loss (when you live that long, you lose a lot of people) and partly because of the way he approaches redemption (I felt his take is less about being forgiven in a Christian way, and more about turning to the good, as in the line from Tehilim, "who is man who loves life.... turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it." Of course, that may have been show-runner David Abromowitz (a cantor) leaking through.

[kali921]

Great post, but I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with your assertion that there aren't many Jewish comic book characters that talk about their Judaism. That's not correct.

[mofic]

I think you misunderstood (or I'm misunderstanding you). I said that the X-Men characters don't have a lot of Jewish content in the comics or the movies, although some are identified as Jewish. Maybe it's a question of what we each consider "a lot"? Not sure.

[kali921]

No, I think I got you, and I still strongly disagree. There is, for example, substantial Jewish content in the early Moon Knight book, when we learn that Marc broke with his Orthodox father and went on to pursue, ah, a very unconventional path. I've seen Kitty Pryde talk about her Judaism. All of the Jewish characters that I mention are hardly invisibilified, and neither is their Judaism, although clearly Christian normative themes tend to prevail in some comics, just like they do in television, film, and other media. I suspect that anyone who doesn't see Jewish content in comics isn't reading widely or deeply enough. The new Batwoman is Jewish and was very explicitly shown celebrating Hanukkah last year when Greg Rucka wrote her. There are many, many instances of this kind of thing all over comicverse canon in the Big Two.

[mofic]

No, I think I got you, and I still strongly disagree. There is, for example, substantial Jewish content in the early Moon Knight book, when we learn that Marc broke with his Orthodox father and went on to pursue, ah, a very unconventional path.

Is that an X-Men comic book? I thought not, from your mention of it before. I know Batwoman isn't X-Men and, as you say, although Kitty Pryde is Jewish it's only occasionally mentioned.

I don't mind disagreeing with you - I just think we're talking at cross purposes. FWIW, in spite of what you say, I stand by my opinion that there is only minor Jewish content in X-Men canon - both comics and movies.