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David Greene, middle, faces many dilemmas in "School Ties."

1992

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School Ties Addresses
Bigotry, Anti-Semitism

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

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8

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1992

o f

1.696

yen today, it would be
unusual for a Jewish
teen to attend a
prestigious New England
prep school to play football.
In the 1950s, the scenario
was nonexistent.
Yet this thesis is the
mechanism for a new film
about prejudice. School Ties
opens today at theaters in
metropolitan Detroit.
In the Paramount Pictures
film, writers Dick Wolf and
Darryl Ponicsan brought to
the screen the story of a Jew-
ish football player from
Scranton, Pa., David Greene
(Brendan Fraser), who was
recruited in the 1950s to be
the star quarterback for an
elite private school.
The film is about friend-
ship, fitting in, social-class
boundaries and emphatic
anti-Semitism. School Ties
shows friendships being
tested when the other boys
discover that David — who
had been accepted as one of
their own — is Jewish.
On his first day at school,
David hears a fellow student
use the phrase "Jewed him
down" to describe a shopp-
ing experience, leaving
David uncomfortable and
cautious about his religious
identity.
Under his T-shirt, he
wears a Star of David. That
evening, he removes the
star.
David's dilemma is that of
an outsider.
"At what price to yourself
are you willing to com-
promise who you are, what
you are and what you stand
for in order to become accep-
table to a group that might
not otherwise want you?"
asked film co-producer

Stanley Jaffe.

"School Ties is not just
about prejudice against:
Jews," said co-producer )
Sherry Lansing. "It show::
how irrational prejudice is
that it is based on nothint „
r
more than fear, and that we
must educate people not to
be afraid of the unknown. r-- -)
"I hope this film will make;'
people more tolerant of any
minority group," Ms. Lans-
ing said.
The writers wanted the 1
film to expose the iri=„
sidiousness of prejudice.
"If no one had told tne,
other students that David
was a person they were pre-'1
judiced against, they
wouldn't have known," Mr.'
Ponicsan said.
The lead actor, Mr. Fraser,I1
attended Upper Canada C61-I
lege Preparatory School :)
Although not Jewish, he
drew parallels between thF
character he played and the
student he was.
"Something I shared with j
the character of Davi,2,'
Greene was that I was
ing to do anything to be
cluded in a group, even if it)
meant denying myself and', ,
who I was," Mr. Fraser said—)
"That's a part of all of usi,
Fortunately, David realizes
what he has done. He comes
out of his experience a muchr:--1
stronger person."
Producers spent about 10)
years planning the film.(
Selecting as their focus the)
social conditions that inspirc, J
prejudice and intolerance,
the filmmakers opted to set
the movie during the Mc-
Carthy era, when overt anti;
Semitism abounded.
Filming took place—,
primarily in Concord, Mass.,
at Middlesex School; the
Worcester Academy depicted
the Overbrook Girls'
School.

❑

