Professor David Peimer
Woody Allen: The Eternal Nebich
Summary
As a filmmaker and writer Woody Allen often embodies and subverts the role of the nebich (Yiddish for “unfortunate”), a Jewish stereotype, typically referring to a hapless, struggling individual or loser. How Allen embodies the archetype is demonstrated through clips from acclaimed films like Annie Hall (1977), Zelig (1983), and Manhattan (1979), as well as his early stand-up comedy.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a Professor of Literature, Film and Theatre in the UK. He has worked for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, New York University (Global Division) and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing in New York, UK, Berlin, EU Parliament (Brussels), Athens, Budapest, Zululand and more. He has most recently directed Dame Janet Suzman in his own play, Joanna’s Story, at London Jewish Book Week. He has published widely with books including: Armed Response: Plays from South Africa, the digital book, Theatre in the Camps. He is on the board of the Pinter Centre (London), and has been involved with the Mandela Foundation, Vaclav Havel Foundation and directed a range of plays at Mr Havel’s Prague theatre.
I think he does, because he’s trying all the time. He doesn’t just sit back and take it, like in the clip from “Annie Hall,” the movie queue with that irritating academic behind. He takes it on, rather than just whinge and whine, and kvetch. He takes it on.
Yeah, I think this is part of the whole debate, you know, that is he neurotic as a person and as an artist, or is it the character archetype he’s created? And that’s why I wanted to show that interview with him right at the beginning, where he said, “Look, would a neurotic write as much as I’ve written, and direct and produce, and get the actors, everything I’ve spoken about, if they were really that neurotic?” I don’t know if they’d be able to.
That’s a fascinating question, I don’t know. I mean, there’s certainly some who have written an incredible amount. I mean, Seinfeld, more contemporary, maybe and others, who’ve written a huge amount but then stopped at a certain point. And it’s very different what Seinfeld’s doing compared to this whole, for me, it’s been an incredible growth trajectory of Woody Allen, from the one-line comic, one-line gags, the stand-up, the monologue, and then into anything-for-a-gag in “Bananas” was fantastic, and “Play It Again, Sam,” the early movies, and then huge change with “Annie Hall” and all the others just before and after that, where it’s full-developed characters, story, everything and so on, is such a development for me. And then finally, with “Zelig,” taking on Western civilization with irony and wit.