The Way the Horses are Running

OK, folksies, I have a problem for you to help solve.

I was planning on doing one thing for my PhD seminar research, but I am starting to go a new way for a reason I think is pretty good. I need your feedback on which sounds more exciting from an audience's perspective. However, since I present this stuff on Monday (the 3rd), I need to make a decision pronto.

Both of them contain thought on the "authentic Jew." This idea of authenticity rests on the belief in pop culture that one recognized mode of behaviour represents the whole of a people. (That is, if Tevia from Fiddler on the Roof is "the authentic Jew," then what can we do with, say, Indian Jews?) "Authenticity" is often discussed as the opposite of "stereotypical," but, in fact, it is the same thing - only mixed with the belief that groups have an essential nature, and that we can tell members of the group by the extent to which they exhibit this essential nature.

I was originally planning on doing the idea of the “authentic Jew” in American pop culture, and how this is molded by celebrity activity. My two test cases were to be one hero, Hank Greenberg (star Tigers pitcher in the 30s and 40s), and two co-villains, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (infamous Communist spies who were executed in the 50s). The idea is that the 6’4” Greenberg exploded myths about Jews and that the Rosenbergs confirmed some of the worst ideas of Jews. (This can also let me tap into the ways in which anti-Semitism, in turn, affected the trials and careers of these celebrities.)

However, I was talking this and my new idea over with a friend today, and she said something terrific: “Sometimes you gotta go where the horse is dragging you.” So maybe this second idea is better suited for me.

This second idea still works with the idea of the “authentic Jew,” or at least with mainstream stereotypes of Jews in American culture. This one deals with the urban legend of Charlie Chaplin’s supposed Jewishness. I would track the legend, give its context and methods, and link his Jewishness with his later troubles. (I can’t help but think that Hoover and McCarthy wouldn’t have believed so many things about him had he not already been constructed as a Jew in their eyes.) And I am also interested in how Charlie himself began to almost believe the construction, although this was also based on supposed Jewish characteristics (i.e. Jewish genius, humour and money sense, all of which he possessed, and wondered if it didn’t come from a Jewish ancestor or possibly even father - his parentage has never been crystal clear), and how this impacted some of his decisions (particularly his anti-fascist stance and the ways in which he performed the Tramp in later films). I would be dealing with the cycle of stereotype/rumour/construction/self-identity/more rumour, etc. from historical sources, Charlie’s own writings, the films, and sociological theory.

And also to what extent this myth is still believed (including the original police speculation that Chaplin's body was stolen in 1978 by anti-Semitic groups who were displeased with a Jew being buried in a Christian graveyard).

The thing is that if I can’t tear myself away from Chaplin, why not make the project work with that instead of against it?

OK, kids. It is up to you to tell me what you find most exciting. What would you be more interested in if you had to listen to one or the other…

I need your help. I’m dying of indecision.