{"product_id":"movies-and-midrash-9781438466149","title":"Movies and Midrash","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrings popular cinema and Jewish religious texts into a meaningful dialogue.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist for the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in Modern Jewish Thought and Experience presented by the Jewish Book Council \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMovies and Midrash\u003c\/i\u003e uses cinema as a springboard to discuss central Jewish texts and matters of belief. A number of books have drawn on films to explicate Christian theology and belief, but Wendy I. Zierler is the first to do so from a Jewish perspective, exploring what Jewish tradition, text, and theology have to say about the lessons and themes arising from influential and compelling films. The book uses the method of \"inverted midrash\": while classical rabbinical midrash begins with exegesis of a verse and then introduces a \u003ci\u003emashal\u003c\/i\u003e (parable) as a means of further explication, Zierler turns that process around, beginning with the culturally familiar cinematic parable and then analyzing related Jewish texts. Each chapter connects a secular film to a different central theme in classical Jewish sources or modern Jewish thought. Films covered include \u003ci\u003eThe Truman Show\u003c\/i\u003e (truth), \u003ci\u003eMemento\u003c\/i\u003e (memory), \u003ci\u003eCrimes and Misdemeanors\u003c\/i\u003e (sin), \u003ci\u003eMagnolia\u003c\/i\u003e (confession and redemption), \u003ci\u003eThe Descendants\u003c\/i\u003e (birthright), \u003ci\u003eForrest Gump\u003c\/i\u003e (cleverness and simplicity), and \u003ci\u003eThe Hunger Games\u003c\/i\u003e (creation of humanity in God''s image), among others.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"State University Press of New York (SUNY)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51863265837399,"sku":"9781438466149","price":24.27,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/movies-and-midrash-9781438466149","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}