From Black to White: Changing Images of Mizrahim in Israeli Cinema

Abstract

The article examines the evolution of Mizrahi images in Israeli cinema in the past fifty years and, unlike most studies about Mizrahim in Israel, focuses on their positive portrayal. The article demonstrates the constructive ways Jewish immigrants from the Islamic world were incorporated into Israeli culture by positing three interrelated arguments. The first is that early films incorporated Mizrahim into the fledgling Israeli nation by legitimizing them as Jews. The second is that, once legitimized, Mizrahim were made part of the national Jewish family through marriage. The third is that after becoming part of the [national] family Mizrahi men were then put in positions of control and, with the decline of Ashkenazi masculinity, eventually became more genuine or authentic representatives of Israeliness.