Versace, NYT, Dec.28, 1992
[Update, Oct.16, 2009: This blog may seem too trivial to most readers of this website to even mention, and I almost deleted it. But upon reflection, think it is more important than meets the eye. I am referring to more than the startling rise in anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda and boycotts emanating from the West. The audience for NCIS is obviously "the heartland" where there is more likely to be an unreflective patriotism, strong support of the U.S. military (in this case, Navy and Marines), and a culture that is unabashedly sentimental and Christian. At the same time, some normally (socially) liberal supporters of Israel have counted upon conservatives and Republicans in the South and West to support a pro-Israel foreign policy. What NCIS has made clear to me, is that Israel gets their support on condition: that Israel subordinates its national interests to those of the United States. If it goes off on its own, the antisemitism we used to identify with American conservatives and the Republican Party will once more be expressed openly. (It was already present in prior episodes, for instance, when Ari, Ziva's half-brother, shoots one of Gibbs' pet agents. Ziva will then shoot Ari, apparently to save Gibbs' life, but later, she reveals it was upon her father's orders. Yesterday's blog follows, unedited.]
Is it my imagination, or has the character Ziva David (played by Cote de Pablo, whose Chilean family is upper-class Catholic) on the hugely popular NCIS television series, undergone a change in identity? No longer the amoral, enigmatic, heartless assassin seemingly divided in her loyalties (but always the Israeli) that she has been for the last few seasons, on last Tuesday’s episode (Oct.13, 2009) , she underwent the final phase in the transfer of her affections and loyalty from her equally cold-blooded father Eli (head of Israel’s Mossad) to the fatherly character Agent Gibbs (played by gracefully aging Mark Harmon, son of U. Michigan football hero Tom Harmon, Mark once deemed the sexiest man alive, and in this series, as silent as Gary Cooper). Ziva’s eyes filled with tears as her application to become an American agent attached to NCIS was accepted, and a prior episode featuring her return to the team after an implausible rescue by her superhero NCIS comrades, attracted 21 million viewers. Normally, superhero Ziva doesn’t cry, even under torture by Islamic terrorists. Am I forgetting something? I remember anger and stoicism, but not the qualities usually associated with women.
So Ziva now has a heart, unambiguously, and I’m wondering if she will still wear her Star of David necklace. [Added, Oct.21, 2009: on last night's episode her neck was conspicuously bare, made even more visible by a low cut draped blouse. In the January 12, 2010 episode, the necklace is back, now gold. Ziva is preparing for her citizenship test and knows more about the Constitution than (Gibbs?).] [Added Nov. 11, 2009: this blog has been read consistently since it was first posted, and I can see why it remains current. After reflecting upon the apparently sequestered field of military psychiatry in the wake of the Hasan jihad, it seems to me that NCIS in its very conception reflects the tight team bonding of a military unit. No one questions the hierarchy, and the team, brilliant and versed in the most advanced technology, adores Gibbs and is fiercely loyal to each other. No one ever questions U.S. foreign policy or the possible mismanagement of American wars, past or present. I.e., the show bonds the audience to military authority as if we were all part of the team, and these attractive young people part of our own families.]
[Added 12-16-09: I am almost speechless over tonight's NCIS, in which a marine is killed by his brother because the family honor was soiled after the victim converted to Islam. We also learn from the Leader (Mark Harmon) that there is no difference in the conceptions of the Christian God and Allah. So tactful for Chanukah week. There is a strong contrast made between tolerant liberal Christians (the victim's father, a clergyman) and "rednecks." The latter resent the marine's conversion to Islam and see it as destroying morale in his unit (veterans of Iraq). They are portrayed as angry animals and Ziva and de Nozo make short work of them, leaving every one of the "rednecks" (charmingly called "red-throats" by the Israel-born Ziva) vanquished and literally floored.
[Added 4-22-10: the episode "Faith" was repeated this week, and I noted that "Ducky" advised his assistant that wars would be prevented if more people understood diversity. Fatherhood was as usual the dominant theme, and in the end everyone forgives everyone else: it was a Cain and Abel story, this time with a repentant Cain. Gibbs' father was traumatized by having shot a robber in his store to protect a woman and a young girl, and he asks Gibbs if he isn't disturbed by taking the lives of others. Gibbs, ever the stoic, indicates that it is difficult, but has to be done.
A few things,
1) The Star of David was taken off her by Saleem at the end of Aliyah, for an Israeli character it would be natural that she purchases another. What’s the big deal?
2) Yes, NCIS was a personal interest for Ziva, but if my boss did that to me I would leave or find a new position in the workplace.
3) Allow the show poetic license! Yes it’s innacurate to the extreme, and some may view it as insulting. But if you don’t like it don’t watch it.
4) Ziva needed to be humanized and have a bit more of a heart. She followed orders from two different sides, and quickly became confused. Her character was physically and emotionally broken. I think any of you would change if you had been in a similar situation.
5) I doubt the writers are deliberately being anti-Israel, they are probably trying to get rid of Eli, who is a horrible character.
I personally am Israeli and know people who work for Mossad, we enjoy the show very much, due to the fact that we can see it is obviously fiction with very loose relations to the real NCIS and Mossad. I believe she is still a role model for women, not just Israeli, she is working through her issues, strengthening her morals, which she has always had, and trying to be strong.
Sarah, I do agree with your comment, but please remember this is a fictional show and a fictional character.
Comment by Tziyona — October 16, 2011 @ 5:18 am |
It would seem that many people don’t ‘get’ that divide between Hollyweird and real life. It is important to understand that most American entertainment (including some alleged news broadcasts) is fiction. I am reminded of when the film “Pulp Fiction” became a cult favorite of college students, who glorified the violence in the film without ever truly understanding the concept of “pulp fiction”.
Comment by M. Myer Blatt — October 16, 2011 @ 3:42 pm |
Yes, but it is still necessary to decode the ideology of popular culture. These shows become reality for many viewers, and indeed are incorporated into their lives as role models, as family members, or as accurate representations of, say, the military as in the case of NCIS.
Comment by clarespark — October 16, 2011 @ 3:48 pm
Ziva is a traitor. She was sworn in mossad to forever Loyalty to the State of Israel at any cost, she betrayed That oath. It’s ridiculous that she wants to be intelligence agents of another state, that is desertion. A real Israeli would have known that loyalty to your country and to your people is more important than a……ny personal interest or issue and that is why she is not a real Mossad agent mentally, I’m not sure she ever was.
Comment by דניאל גלילי — February 8, 2011 @ 12:08 pm |
The whole Ziva/Israel thing continues to be complicated as current events change. As Claire noted, I have become aware that Israel is now being deliberately isolated from other nations due to a well-organized effort to brand it as “apartheid” and “racist”. Remember, this is TV, which means the show is subject to the approval of the audience and others.
I’d like to be a fly on the wall in the office of the writers, producers, and advertisers of NCIS. It’s clear that the show has completely backed off the whole connection with Israel, and I’m realizing that even when the connection was seen as a good thing, the Israeli characters were not such good guys. The references to Mossad and Ziva’s family were always that she was trained to be a heartless assassin. Her father lies to her and betrays her. Eli is ultimately a terrible father and not what I’d like to see as the portrayal of the head of Mossad.
Ziva is essentially a pawn torn between her father and Gibbs. That’s a pretty sucky role for such a strong woman. As her role becomes more Americanized, she becomes softer and more emotional. That “heartless assassin” role annoys me because it is not a good model for Israeli women.
She’s back wearing her Star of David, but it’s smaller, and the camera ususally gives the viewer a slight glimpse of it and then partly conceals it. So if you’re a new viewer, you may not even notice what she’s wearing.
I’m disappointed about the changes in her role, but my guess is that the show wanted to keep the character/actor while “divesting” from Israel. So they Americanized Ziva and tied her more closely to Gibbs as a father figure. In retrospect, I’m surprised that the positive image of a U.S/Israeli relationship lasted so long on the show given the intensity of the anti-Israel forces in the world today. I’m disappointed that the one show that had something positive about Israel has taken it away, but I’m not surprised.
Comment by Rachel Peine — February 8, 2011 @ 5:02 pm |
[...] Links to blogs on military psychiatry Filed under: 1 — clarespark @ 11:29 pm Tags: Major Hasan, NCIS, prejudice as cause of war, Roy Grinker, the military as exemplary institution http://clarespark.com/2009/10/15/the-christianization-of-ziva-david-ncis/ [...]
Pingback by Links to blogs on military psychiatry « YDS: The Clare Spark Blog — April 29, 2010 @ 12:49 am |
There was nothing in there that I don’t agree with except “that there is no difference in the conceptions of the Christian God and Allah.” There is a huge difference. Us Christians don’t believe in Holy Wars, and we let our women have the same rights as us and don’t have them cover their heads. Islam must be destroyed.
Comment by Darth Kieduss — April 17, 2010 @ 4:28 pm |
Darth, I don’t understand your comment. Did you think that it was I, and not Jethro Gibbs, who thought that the Christian God and Allah were equivalent? As for wiping out the Muslim religion, how would you go about that? There are several billion believers. And some of them are Westernized/modernized. See the publications of Ayaan Hirsi Ali for the sharp difference between conceptions of Allah and Jesus. She also believes that “moderate” Muslims are susceptible to radicalisation by jihadis, owing to the violence that pervades Islam, the religion of complete submission. My analysis of the “Faith” episode is thus vindicated by an ex-radical jihadi of world wide fame and honor. Well, not quite world wide. She lives in constant danger of assassination for spilling the beans.
Comment by clarespark — April 17, 2010 @ 5:55 pm |
Yes, in the current season, Ziva is becoming more assimilated. She is becoming an American citizen and is leaving her ‘Israeli-ness’ behind.
She’s becoming less of the classic kibbutz heroine that she was when this was written
Comment by Frosh — March 24, 2010 @ 1:22 pm |
Thank you very much for your reply and for the link. I have no real use for Jews who are so assimilated that they bend over backwards to be anti-Israel and anti-Semitic so that no one can accuse them of being partisan. I am Orthodox, but that’s a personal choice and not one that I foist onto others. I do, however, think that the anti-Israel and self-hating Jews should convert and take themselves out of the available Jewish gene pool.
Comment by Sarah — February 4, 2010 @ 6:21 pm |
Sarah, see my essay http://clarespark.com/2009/12/16/perceptions-of-the-enemy-the-left-looks-at-the-right-and-vice-versa/. I mention Budd Schulberg, one of the many assimilated Hollywood Jews. His book What Makes Sammy Run was blatantly antisemitic in its depiction of a climber, straight from the streets of the Lower East Side in New York City. Interestingly, the Communist Party designated the book as antisemitic, but Schulberg is revered for his writing on such films as On The Waterfront and A Face in the Crowd, also for his novels, including The Disenchanted, which I thought was a great book. But don’t expect much pro-Zionism or pro-Israeli sentiment from Hollywood. They are loyal to the bottom line, which does not mean that fine films have not been made here.
Comment by clarespark — February 4, 2010 @ 4:50 pm |
In my experience, Mossad agents do not “lend out” to foreign agencies, nor do they walk around trumpeting their identities as Mossad agents. It is fine for Hollywood “creativity” to be imaginative, but it should fall well short of the patently absurd. Besides, in an industry in which Jews arguably have considerable influence, I wonder why there should be such a negative portrayal of an Israeli.
A friend convinced me to watch one episode of NCIS. The star (the grey-haired guy) had one line in which he accused the Mossad for being responsible for assassinating an “innocent Palestinian” in Norway. The guy was Moroccan, not Palestinian. So much for accuracy. Haven’t seen the show since but I’m not big on television or the movies, anyway, and even if I did need a fictional television series to inform me about Jews or Israel, I would prefer that the actors be Jewish. Cinema verite.
Comment by Sarah — February 3, 2010 @ 10:36 am |
I was even more disgusted to see Ziva sans mogen david on Chanukah (Dec. 15) with ZERO mention of anything vaguely Judaic. I’m writing to the station and copying whomever I can think of to express my displeasure. This change signals a clear statement severing the connection between NCIS and Israel. It also robs Jewish women of a fabulous role model. BTW, I’m wearing my Star of DAvid more now to make up for the lack of Ziva’s. I urge others to do the same.
Comment by Rachel Peine — December 16, 2009 @ 3:51 am |
Chanukkah is not a major holiday. Many Jews, myself included, do not even celebrate it. I would be more worried when it comes closer to the High Holy Days if she her throat is naked.
Comment by MacJew — July 26, 2010 @ 2:24 am |