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Jewish humor, a modern Ashkenazi survival mechanism in the face of antisemitism, has recently been mobilized on digital streaming platforms by American women writers and performers, becoming a crucial mechanism of resistance to antisemitism and systemic misogyny. I analyze the narrative techniques and characters in Jewish humor employed by content creators to explore ethico-political questions raised by twenty-first-century media representations of Jewish American women. This dissertation maps the historical, technological, and economic factors that engendered these tropes. Following the influx of digital streaming platforms from 2005 to 2008, comedic content creators such as Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson (creators of Broad City) and Rachel Bloom (creator of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) began to mount productions with explicit representations of Jewish rituals, cultures, and subjects for niche audiences. These content creators adapted traditional motifs of Jewish humor by infusing their work with contemporary, popular feminist sensibilities and applying narrative tactics specific to digital technology. They infused their work with intertextual allusions (or brief, tongue-in-cheek insider references) to Jewish holidays, history, and feminist issues without explanation or contextualization. They inspired more established writers and performers (including Jenji Kohan (creator of Orange Is the New Black), Joey Soloway (creator of Transparent), and Natasha Lyonne (co-creator of Russian Doll)) addressing broader audiences, to incorporate similar references as Easter eggs or deep cuts to promote transmedia viewer engagement. These content creators developed and refined techniques such as parodies of older media representations of Jewish life (which include older antisemitic and misogynistic stereotypes, especially the Jewish American Princess and Jewish mother figures) to expose their limitations. Digital content creators engage in feminist midrash, a mode of storytelling, inspired by a form of biblical exegesis, that aims to answer and explore difficult ethical questions.In addition to fulfilling the requirements of a traditional, full-length dissertation, my project experiments with an innovative creative/critical writing methodology. My novel about a Jewish family in Los Angeles, incorporates all of the narrative techniques adopted by twenty-first-century comedic content creators to explore ethico-political questions raised by media representations of Jewish American women.

Freud attribuiva all’umorismo (Wizt) un ruolo rilevante per la comprensione della vita culturale ebraica e del suo ethos. Nella pratica clinica ci si è interrogati sul significato dell’umorismo nei suoi aspetti difensivi e creativi, di allontanamento dell’ansia e di creazione di significati nuovi. L’analogia con i processi di creazione artistica e letteraria ha spinto in mol- ti a parlare, nel caso dell’umorismo, della presenza di un processo terziario, distinto da quello primario e secondario. Attraverso l’analisi di alcune storielle ebraiche, viene proposta una ri- flessione sulle strategie dell’umorismo in risposta alle sfide poste all’esistenza ebraica. L’umorismo ebraico è articolato: non “censura” l’accusa, sembra “far sua” l’accusa. In realtà la depotenzia facendo scaturire significati nuovi che rendono l’accusa ridicola e aumentano la gamma delle conoscenze, invitando al pensiero complesso con effetti catartici e liberatori. L’analisi delle storielle diventa un viaggio nella storia e nella cultura ebraica. [PAROLE CHIAVE: umorismo ebraico, Witz, antisemitismo, ebraismo, psicoanalisi] Abstract. Portrayals of the Jewish and of the anti-Semite in Jewish humor. Freud attributed to “Wizt” and humor an important role for understanding Jewish cultural life and ethos. Many scholars and psychoanalysts studied Jewish humor, its technique and vibrant sources. Within clinical practice, the meaning of humorous communication was studied in its many defensive and creative aspects aimed at banishing anxiety and creating new meanings. The analogy with artistic and literary creation has encouraged some authors to discuss the presence of a “tertiary” process, distinct from primary and secondary processes. Through the analysis of some Jewish jokes, humor’s strategies are seen as a way of dealing with the challenges posed to Jewish life. Jewish humor’s strategy is complex and articulated: it does not “censor” accusations, it appears to “embrace” the accusation, making it less powerful with new meanings that make the accusa- tion ridiculous and increase the range of knowledge, with cathartic and liberating effects. The analysis of jokes becomes a journey through Jewish history and culture. [KEY WORDS: Jewish humor, Witz, anti-Semitism, Judaism, Psychoanalysis]