Like, your movie or TV show has to feature a Jewish character for more than 0.8 seconds and it can’t be a stereotype or anything Anti-Semitic.
How many shows or movies do you think would pass?
Arrow, Felicity Smoak is fantastic and does not fall victim to Jewish coding, stereotypes, or anything anti-Semitic from what I have watched. Arrow and the Flash have crossovers with Felicity so the Flash passes and has more than .8 seconds of no stereotypical or antisemitic stereotypes.
I love Felicity Smoak, she is proud of her Jewish identity and an overall great character.
When Oliver Queen, the main character, says, “Merry Christmas” to Felicity, she corrects him and he then wishes her a “Happy Hanukkah!”
The same situation occurs with the Flash, where the Flash aka Barry Allen asks Felicity what she’s doing for Christmas and she explains she’s Jewish and the responds with a cute little face, “Lighting up my Menorah.”
(The user: @oliversmoaked made a THIS gif set so I hope she does not mind that I used her gifs to illustrate how the character of Felicity Smoak is a positive representation of Jewish characters which is rare to find.
Felicity doesn’t just mention her Jewish identity around the holidays but throughout the series. When congratulating a certain couple on their new baby, Felicity responds with a “Mazel Tov.” (I am being vague so I won’t spoil the show for those who will want to watch after seeing the awesomeness that is Felicity Smoak.)
At one character’s burial, she performed a jewish custom by throwing dirt onto her coffin.
Although the actress Emily Bett Rickard’s is not Jewish, she provides a promising portrayal of Jewish women through illustrating how smart and capable Felicity Smoak is.
I don’t want to spoil too much of the show but Felicity Smoak graduated MIT with a degree in Computer Science and Cyber Security (Class of 2009, she will remind you through the series) by the time she was 19!!!!
Ms Smoak is an expert hacker and will also become a great business woman. Not only is Felcity arguably the most intelligent character on the show, she is also one of the quirkiest, funniest, cutest, most compassionate characters.
Felicity is more than a cute little cinnamon roll with a strong jewish identity as she has a strong sense of her self, her morality, her values, and has a strong back bone. I love when she doesn’t let a male protagonist shit all over her. Felicity Smoak once told her boss, Oliver Queen, the show’s “protagonist”, to stop “jumping down her throat just because he was having a bad week.”
SHE HAS CHUTZPAH! Felicity Smoak is a rare gem in the world of Jewish representation: smart, funny, sassy, strong, determined, intellectually curious, compassionate, and JEWISH.
✡ There you have it, Felicity Smoak, a character that passes the Jewish Bechdel Test. ✡
