spike
Black Knight
Posts: 16
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Post by spike on Oct 29, 2018 14:34:28 GMT -5
Hi everyone, I was curious about one thing. In "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated", Velma was shown listening to Klezmer music, and she often exclaimed "Oy" and "Oy gevalt". Wonder if the creators implied that she is Jewish, and if yes, does this mean that the "canonical" Velma is also Jewish? In "Frankencreepy" she was said to be of German ancestry, but in fact, before WW2 there was a large Ashkenazi Jewish diaspora in Germany and Eastern Europe (including Einstein), and many of them immigrated to US, just like Velma's great-grandfather Otto.
If it was true, this would be a very interesting new side to her character. What do you think?
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Post by barneynedward on Oct 29, 2018 14:51:34 GMT -5
Actually, I think Velma is probably an atheist. Given her view on the world, I doubt she'd be willing to believe in any gods when no solid evidence of their existence has ever been found.
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spike
Black Knight
Posts: 16
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Post by spike on Oct 29, 2018 15:01:13 GMT -5
I meant in the ethnical/cultural sense rather than religious; there are atheist Jews as well.
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Post by russm on Oct 29, 2018 16:42:37 GMT -5
Don't forget Mindy Cohen is Jewish and she was voicing Velma in SD:MI.
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Post by jonathanmuddlemore on Oct 29, 2018 17:37:52 GMT -5
I think she's definitely Jewish in Mystery Incorporated. Elsewhere? Probably not. The bit about her grandfather moving from Germany is a reference to the Universal Frankenstein movies which took place in Germany.
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Post by Doo on Oct 30, 2018 9:53:27 GMT -5
That's quite an interesting theory and I'm minded to say you're right given the evidence you've provided here. I'd say it's only for SDMI though and not something canonically true.
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Post by ShaphneLegacy27 on Oct 30, 2018 13:51:26 GMT -5
She is likely an atheist Jew. Other than that, I don't think any of the gang have a religion as most family friendly franchises are universal.
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Post by Doo on Oct 30, 2018 14:22:33 GMT -5
She is likely an atheist Jew. Other than that, I don't think any of the gang have a religion as most family friendly franchises are universal. Shaggy and Scooby do pray at one point in “The Mystery of Haunted Island” (when the bedsheet turns into a ghost) in The New Scooby-Doo Movies.
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Post by jonathanmuddlemore on Oct 30, 2018 14:26:59 GMT -5
She is likely an atheist Jew. Other than that, I don't think any of the gang have a religion as most family friendly franchises are universal. Plus, Scooby-Doo was created at a time when cartoons were starting to avoid ANYTHING religious. Mark Evanier once wrote about having a reference to Hanukkah censored from a Snagglepuss cartoon he wrote (which is antisemitic garbage since Christmas references are never censored).
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Post by russm on Oct 30, 2018 17:11:30 GMT -5
Actually, I think Velma is probably an atheist. Given her view on the world, I doubt she'd be willing to believe in any gods when no solid evidence of their existence has ever been found. You'd be surprised (http://www.pewforum.org/2009/11/05/scientists-and-belief/), so while you do have your Richard Dawkins out there you also have your John Polkinhorne (theoretical physicist, Anglican priest and theologian) and Francis Collins (ran the Human Genome Project and the NIH for a while). So while we cannot say one way or another about what Velma believes we cannot rule out some form of religious belief.
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Post by barneynedward on Oct 30, 2018 21:45:16 GMT -5
She is likely an atheist Jew. Other than that, I don't think any of the gang have a religion as most family friendly franchises are universal. I think in the main continuity, Velma's ancestors were Christian.
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Post by futurerocker on Oct 30, 2018 22:45:08 GMT -5
Good catch! Never noticed that before. I would probably say she comes from a Jewish ancestry, but probably doesn't really think to much about religion like most teenagers do. She more focused on solving and proving that every paranormal mystery is a hoax.
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Post by futurerocker on Oct 30, 2018 22:50:27 GMT -5
She is likely an atheist Jew. Other than that, I don't think any of the gang have a religion as most family friendly franchises are universal. Plus, Scooby-Doo was created at a time when cartoons were starting to avoid ANYTHING religious. Mark Evanier once wrote about having a reference to Hanukkah censored from a Snagglepuss cartoon he wrote (which is antisemitic garbage since Christmas references are never censored). I think the reason why Christmas is allowed and Hanukkah being censored is probably because of Christmas being very commercialized like Halloween. Christmas does have a religion background, but most people, especially children, think of Christmas as being a time of giving and Santa Clause and presents. Same thing with Halloween. Halloween was believed when the spirits were closest to our world and would cause the most damage. Nowadays when we think of Halloween, we think about Trick-or-Treat and scary our best friends.
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Post by jonathanmuddlemore on Oct 31, 2018 9:28:19 GMT -5
She is likely an atheist Jew. Other than that, I don't think any of the gang have a religion as most family friendly franchises are universal. I think in the main continuity, Velma's ancestors were Christian. I think saying Velma's ancestors were Christian is just as much of a leap as saying they were Jewish. Remember, Velma's great-great uncle was a mad scientist who tried to reanimate a corpse.
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spike
Black Knight
Posts: 16
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Post by spike on Oct 31, 2018 12:08:15 GMT -5
That's quite an interesting theory and I'm minded to say you're right given the evidence you've provided here. I'd say it's only for SDMI though and not something canonically true. I also have to add that Velma is dark-haired, smart, bookish, and has a sarcastic wit (especially in SDMI, but even in classical series she had her snarky moments); all those traits are often associated with Jews.
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