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Heron Chan
Communication 10
Professor Jacki Horwitz
The movie Gentlemans Agreement is about how Jewish was unfairly treated. During
the entire movie, we can see many different kinds of anti-Semitism (a word that means
discrimination of Jews) like by using calling some offensive nicknames to Jews, push Jews to live
in some restricted area, confronting some hurtful jokes against the Jews.. On the other hand, we
can see some people choose to oppose anti-Semitism, for instance, publishing articles discussing
about anti-Semitism, or criticize people who support anti-Semitism.
Philip Schuyler Green (Phil) is the main character in the movie. He does not suffer
prejudice, but are able to understand the feelings of the discriminated group. He pretends a Jewish
for eight weeks, and he understands what the Jews feel when facing against antisemitism, even
though he is not Jewish himself. As people start to realize the bad of antisemitism, they can feel
how the Jews are prejudiced, thus this cause them to fight against antisemitism, or at least also help
others fight their war against their prejudice. Phil also showed his prejudice against female at 8:48
and 11:05 in the movie, just like how some people may hold prejudice B against others even
though they are fighting against prejudice A; which is to say that people with good intentions still
has their own defect, and can still improve themselves too.
John Minify (John) is a company magazine publisher. He has similar character as Phil, but
he is more mature and has more experience. At 35:20, he argues with Phil about the way to oppose
anti-Semitism. He prefers fighting the war by using mass media publishing to change the general
public, while Phil suggests changing individual opinion, which may leads to a victory such as at
41:30, or at defeat such as at 1:26:40.
Kathy Lacey (Kathy) is the fiance of the main character. She is caught between a war
against prejudice that people are fighting. Although Phil has good intentions by fighting against
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anti-Semitism, he causes Kathy frustrated by accusing her of being anti-Semitic when she chooses
to fight anti-Semitism by using remaining silent or avoiding the problem altogether. They have an
opposite point of views on the method of fighting anti-Semitism, Phil thinks that it is actually
promoting anti-Semitism if Kathy choose to remain silent or avoid the problem altogether. He also
feels there are no middle grounds in this war against anti-Semitism, which is how some people
misgive that their loved ones might distant from them because they are too enthusiastic and ignore
their loved ones. Nonetheless, at the end of the movie, she finally makes her decision and chooses
to fight against anti-Semitism alongside with Phi. She fights against anti-Semitism and helps Dave
Goldman out by selling one of the houses she owns to him. The movie ends with a happy ending
that Kathy deciding to fight against anti-Semitism.
Elaine Wales (Elaine) is the secretary for the main character and Irving Weisman (Irving)
is a good friend of John Minify (John), who is also the magazine publisher in this movie. Elaine
and Irving both are suffering anti-Semitism. They both want to the world to be rid of anti-
Semitism, but in the same time, do not want to agitate people who promote anti-Semitism. Elaine
dislikes the ideas of more Jewish being hired into the liberal publishing magazine company,
despite that she is Jewish. She scares that (50:15) some bad Jewish people would disrepute Jewish,
which may give the anti-Semitic people more evidences to promote anti-Semitism. Similarly,
Irving (35:15) also tells John about his fear of stronger anti-Semitism due to the publishing articles
against anti-Semitism. It reflects the contradict feelings of some people are being discriminated
and do not want to suffer the prejudices, but does not want to arouse the anger of anti-Semitic
group of people.
Dave Goldman (Dave) is the main characters best friend. He suffers from prejudice since
birth, which is different from Phil who understands the prejudice felt by the victims through
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empathy. At 1:11:55, a passerby says I told you, I don't like officers. I especially don't like them
if they're yids. This causes Dave to have a violent reaction. At 1:38:45, Dave tells Phil about the
death of a Jewish soldier who was bombed, and the last words he ever heard was give me a hand
with this sheeny, which makes Dave really angry and want to murder someone. The feelings that
Dave felt were much more extreme than compared with Phils feelings because he suffers first
hand from prejudice.
Tommy Green (Tom) is the main characters son. Tom is a teenager who knows nothing
about why people promote prejudice among others. Tom is just meaninglessly continues on the
tradition of what his parents believe in. At 11:14, where Tom finally gets his information about
anti-Semitism from Phil in the first breakfast scene. This helps Tom to know what happens and
start to think about prejudice instead of following blindly what his parents inculcate him.
Professor Fred Lieberman (Professor) is the famous Jewish physicist that Phil and Kathy
meets at 58:00. Professor is a mature guy who able to explain the relation of many prejudices,
religions, race, etc. Professor explains to us about what is a Jewish race, what is meant by being
religious. He then explains about the advantage of not revealing that they are a Jew, or the pride of
calling themselves a Jew. Some people want to sort out the reason of prejudice, which allows
them to better analyze the prejudice they suffer, but not all people can do so. This confusion to
people is harmful because they may not learn how to objectify the situation and distance
themselves away from the prejudice; thus terminate discrimination..
This is a thought-provoking video. Each character shows me different point of views and
attitudes towards anti-Semitism. Some of them try to end prejudice at a larger scale level (John),
or at an individual level (Phil). Another way is to understand the prejudice and sort the finer the
details out (Professor), or to avoid the promoters of prejudice altogether (Elaine and Irving). I also
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can understand some of the consequences of the differences in the coping methods. But most
important, I understand why the victims may prefer to use violence to solve the prejudices they
face (Dave), and ways to start fighting against anti-Semitism (Tom). Though the movie, I learnt
that it is a long-lasting war to make a stand against prejudice.