CFB: “Unorthodox Media,” FSR Blog’s Call for Blog Roundtable Responses
We want to hear your responses to FSR Blog’s @theTable: “Unorthodox Media.” We invite you, our readers, to reflect on any of blogs in this series or contribute your own analysis of “My Unorthodox Life” or other forms of what this series names “unorthodox media.”
Introduction to the series:
“This collection includes a number of responses by Jewish studies scholars to Netflix’s reality show My Unorthodox Life, released in June 2021. When I first conceived of this collection, I wanted to highlight the significance of this latest release in ex/post Orthodox Jewish media, which, as a hyperbolic reality television series, may appear to some to be the least serious of the genre. Referred to as Off the Derech (OTD), meaning “off the path,” the genre is often described colloquially as OTD media, a term based on the Orthodox-coined descriptor for those who veer from Orthodox Jewish life. But taking our cue from Netflix’s presentation of its most recent consecutive releases in the genre, including its earlier 2020 Unorthodox, we might also refer to the genre as Unorthodox Media. In introducing this collection, I want to suggest that what we call the genre has an important role in exposing whose gaze is directing us in making assessments of significance…
The reviews and responses gathered here reflect different perspectives, disciplinary orientations, and subject positions vis a vis the American Orthodox Jewish world and its viewers. Together, they highlight a number of critical ways that one might respond to this show and argue for why this series, which seems to be the least serious of the genre, is an important piece of Orthodox Jewish, OTD, and American popular cultures.”
Read the full series introduction here.
Call for Blogs (CFB): In order to generate a virtual conversation, the @theTable includes the option to have an open call for blog submissions that responds to the topic call *and* panel. Any open submission to this CFB must engage at least one (1) panel author’s work in the @theTable. N.B. If an open submission contains no engagement, it is automatically declined. The author is invited to modify and submit the piece to FSR Blog’s open call (rolling). All submissions must adhere to our submission guidelines.
Any questions? Send us an email at [email protected]
We look forward to hearing from you!
Our “Unorthodox Media” @theTable authors (in order of publication):
Monday: Shira Schwartz, “Introduction: Unorthodox Media“
Tuesday: Shira Schwartz, “The Unorthodox Choice”
Wednesday: Sam Shuman, “Feminism as Capitalism’s Handmaiden in My Unorthodox Life”
Thursday: Dory Fox, “My So-Called Unorthodox Life“