Presenters
Abstract
An examination of Israel’s film output reveals an extreme lack of blockbuster cinema, with the highest grossing Israeli films in recent years being a romantic comedy, Tel Aviv on Fire (2019), an anti-war drama, Foxtrot (2018), and a feminist drama, In Between (2016). Andrew Darley defines the blockbuster as, films that are “technologically dense and laden with special effects [and are] firmly established as a deliberate and pivotal commercial strategy.” With big-budget, effects-heavy American films filling screens in many Israeli theaters, Israeli filmmakers instead focus their efforts on character-based dramas and comedies. This saturation of moderately-budgeted, character-focused cinema in Israeli film production creates little conflict with the depictions of religious life inherent in Israeli culture. However, how do Israeli films that utilize blockbuster aesthetics interact with the Jewish traditions present on screen? What do the fantastical qualities of the CGI add to the character development? How can effects-heavy filmmaking coexist with the Haredi Jewish characters who reject secular and modern Jewish life? Through an examination of Avi Nesher’s The Wonders (2013), this presentation will expand upon Yaron Peleg and Yael Friedman’s previous scholarship on depictions of Jewish life in Israeli media by introducing CGI into the discussion. The goal of this presentation is to argue that the presence of visual effects creates religious undertones for the secular characters and to focus on the implications of this observation.