Israel on the Screen: Between Reality and Fantasy

Abstract

Israel on the Screen:Between Reality and Fantasy Yaron Peleg and Eran Kaplan Arguably more than any other artform, cinema can combine realism and fantasy, mimic the world as we see and experience it, and create images of our inner worlds, our imagination. The tension between realism and fantasy is one of cinema's most alluring aspects, and it is commonly acknowledged by what we call film styles or genres. By and large, and with some notable exceptions, Israeli cinema is immersed in reality. Rather than escape realism, it seems eager to explore, again and again, the nature of the traumatic core of the Israeli experience and force the viewers to face it. Israeli cinema and visual culture are almost obsessed with political, historical, and social issues, which are woven into narratives that sometimes take the form of social or national allegory. At the same time, a strong concern with reality does not necessarily lead to realistic cinema and television in Israel, especially when commercial considerations and the potential distribution in the global media market come into play. In this special issue, our contributors explore the relationship between realism and fantasy in Israeli cinema and TV and look at Israeli visual realism and the tensions therein. Our exploration begins with Ohad Landesman's article on the work of Claude Lanzmann and his documentary trilogy, Israel, Why? (1973), Shoah (1985), and Tzahal (1994), in which the celebrated documentarist reflects on the Zionist triumphalist narrative known as "from Shoah to t'kuma [revival]." Landesman explores Lanzmann's complex attitude toward this narrative, especially his contribution to exposing some of the realities behind it while [End Page 1] perpetuating some of its myths. Eran Kaplan describes how the harsh political realities of the Middle East in the TV series Fauda lose political signification as they become part of a tech or cyber universe. Kaplan shows how the hyperreality of the show is not concerned with the politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as fighters do not do battle for their nations but in what amounts to a globalized corporate tech race powered by the neoliberal world order. Oded Nir looks at Israeli films and television programs that use allegory as a formal means of exposing socioeconomic antagonisms that often remain hidden. Nir uses Jameson's term "world reduction" to show the tensions between neoliberal logic and the welfare state in Fauda, The Band's Visit (2007), and In Between (2016). Yaron Peleg looks at how cinema handles various religious realities in Israeli culture in three distinct films, Ushpizin (2003), The Wedding Plan (2016), and Tikkun (2015). The first two films adopt popular generic conventions to translate unique Israeli religious realities, and the third film articulates a new language that tries to give visual form to Jewish religiosity. Vered Weiss concludes the issue with an article about the Israeli adaptation of the vampire genre in the television series Juda (2017). Weiss looks at the genre's local brew, into which antisemitic tropes and more unique Israeli ethnic tensions have been mixed to create a telling fantasy. [End Page 2] Copyright © 2022 Wayne State University Press