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Writing this book has been a pleasure. Rarely can one say that I have work to do, and that work involves watching a film a night. My gratitude for this must go to the School of English at what was then the University of Wales, Bangor which, in 2005, took a chance and hired me as a Lecturer in Film Studies, despite having had a background primarily in American History hitherto. It is not often that one gets the luxury of translating a hobby into a full-time job. My transfer (but alas with no attendant ‘fee’) to the National Institute for Excellence in the Creative Industries in January 2007, today known as the School of Creative Studies and Media, provided an extremely genial context in which to work, and I am particularly grateful to Professor Graeme Harper for his backing, support, and for providing the sort of working conditions in which I can thrive. I would also like to thank my various friends and my partners for their respective patience and tolerance in not only watching these films with me but also for putting up with me when I stopped and rewound the DVD player ad nauseum, as well as my students and colleagues at Bangor University, the London School of Jewish Studies, the Spiro Ark and Limmud conferences for the useful discussions and comments, and also for sharing their DVDs with me. Several individuals deserve singling out for their advice, insights and support. In alphabetical order they are: Michael Abrams, Becky Aizen, Caryn Aviv, Amy Chambers, Sarah Cramsey, Simon Dando, Howard Davis, Vinciane Duperthuy, Marc Michael Epstein, Santiago Fouz-Hernández, Martin Fradley, Norm Gutharz, Dyfrig Jones, Bruce Kaplan, Daniel Lichman, Dominique Moloney, Jacqueline Nicholls, Chris Pallant, Nick Poots, Steve Price, Goran Stanivukovic, Stephen Stern, Sonja Stojanovic, Kate Taylor, Renée Taylor, Lindsey Taylor-Gutharz, Naomi Wood and Raphael Zarum. Acknowledgements ix THE NEW JEW IN FILM x I am particularly grateful to Helena Miguélez Carballeira for many things and in many ways, but here for her typically close reading of my work and her very useful comments. ‘Polish, medieval Chaucer’ Sue Niebrzydowski, together with Cai, have been pillars of support, understanding, amusement and advice, and I thank them for putting up with me and my moaning. Sally Baker was always on hand with an amusing anecdote or useful bit of gossip. Marcus Brogden generously lent his voluminous and unparalleled DVD collection to me (sometimes he wasn’t even aware of it). Anne-Marie Condron, Simon Dando, Ian Davies, Gerwyn Owen, Diana Pinto, Sofie Angharad Roberts, Rikke Schubart, Jenni Steele and Bryn Young-Roberts shared their as yet unpublished work with me, and allowed me to cite from it. Philippa Brewster saw the potential in this project, supported it from the outset, and has nurtured it to fruition. Her comments have been insightful and have improved the text immeasurably. Finally, I would like to thank the anonymous readers, whose comments were invaluable. Needless to say, any errors in fact or matters of interpretation remain my own. Earlier versions of four chapters have been revised and expanded here. They are ‘The Jew on the loo: the toilet in Jewish popular culture, memory, and imagination’, in Olga Gershenson and Barbara Penner (eds), Ladies and Gents: Public toilets and gender (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009), pp.218–26; ‘“My religion is American”: A midrash on Judaism in American films, 1990 to the present’, in Jeanne Cortiel, Kornelia Freitag, Christine Gerhardt and Michael Wala (eds), Religion in the United States (Heidelberg: Winter Verlag, 2011), pp.209–25; ‘From Jeremy to Jesus: the Jewish male body on film, 1990 to the Present’, in Santiago Fouz-Hernández (ed.), Mysterious Skin: The male body in contemporary cinema (London and New York: IB Tauris, 2009), pp.15–29; ‘“I’ll have whatever she’s having”: Jewish Food on Film’, in Anne Bowers (ed.), Reel Food: Essays on food and film (New York and London: Routledge, 2004), pp.87–100. I am grateful to the publishers for giving me permission to reproduce them in part here. I dedicate this book to the memory of Duncan Tanner and Nina Fishman, as well as those who think that my work is ‘too Jewy’ but like it anyway. ...

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