Performances of Jewish Identity: Spartacus

Abstract

Produced at the height of the cold war, the gladiator film Spartacus (1960) is recognized as an answer to HUAC’s redbaiting members of the Hollywood film community. Unexplored, however, has been the hypothesis that the film is a production expressing cultural aspects of Jewish identity and memory. Considering the multiple authorship of Howard Fast, Dalton Trumbo, Kirk Douglas, and Stanley Kubrick, this paper examines aspects of the film that suggest not only a response to oppression on American soil, but also a recognition of broader forms of imperialism or fascism, such as the Nazi genocide of Jews in the Holocaust.

A Hidden Heart of Jewishness and Englishness: Stanley Kubrick

“…And although Margaret Burton has explored Jewish thematics in Spartacus, she alas did not widen her scope beyond the one film (and which many scholars feel does not deserve A Hidden Heart of Jewishness and Englishness: Stanley Kubrick the Kubrick imprint anyway). 18 But despite the highly speculative nature of Cocks' work, and the limitations of Burton's, together they have laid the foundations for a productive new approach. This article will adopt an original approach to Kubrick by exploring him in a process akin to Midrash, the formal or informal elaboration on Jewish scripture, as a form of commentary, in order to elucidate or elaborate upon its hidden meanings.…”