Reconsidering Roles

Dear Gregory Peck,

In your 1947 movie Gentleman’s Agreement you play a journalist (Phillip Green) who pretends to be Jewish in order to better understand anti-Semitism. Before taking the role, did you consider the character that you would be embodying? Did you think about the merit of his actions? About whether or not they aligned with your conscious and morals? If not, I urge you to do so now.

You don’t really know someone until you walk a mile in their shoes—or so the saying goes. Of course, leaving the figurative realm and actually adopting an identity that is not your own is a completely different matter. Phillip Green’s decision to pose as a Jewish man in Gentleman’s Agreement is problematic for several reasons. Although he comes from a place of good intentions, Green completely bypasses empathy and denies the experience of actual Jewish people. Real, true empathy is about feeling for something or someone that is independent of oneself—in this case, the Jewish community. Imagining oneself in that community or taking it one step further and actually inserting oneself into it is the easy way out. Making it personal reveals that Green is incapable of true empathy—in essence, he doesn’t really care about anti-Semitism until it’s happening to him and his family.

Furthermore, Green’s performance invalidates the experiences of actual Jewish people. Prior to pretending to be Jewish, Green lamented that there was nothing to the story of anti-Semitism but statistics. Why did Green not talk to Jewish community members? Why did he not observe the anti-Semitism that was going on all around him in New York City? By instead pretending to be Jewish and writing about his experiences, Green implies that anti-Semitism is not noteworthy or concerning until it happens to a gentile.

Finally, Green’s performance makes the assumption that living as Jewish for a few weeks is equivalent to a lifetime of anti-Semitism. Green was, clearly, not raised Jewish—he wasn’t bullied in school, wasn’t rejected from countless schools and jobs, wasn’t called anti-Semitic slurs on his way home, etc. Yes, he experiences anti-Semitism during the few weeks that he “is” Jewish; but to equate that to year after year of oppression and exclusion is an insult to those who live that way. For many people, Judaism isn’t something that they can put on and take off as they please. It’s a part of their identity. It’s who they are.

I hope that I’ve given you a few things to think about. In the future, perhaps you’ll think more carefully before accepting such a role.

Sincerely,
Annabel Chosy


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