Why not Winona Horowitz?
What's with the self hating judaism?
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MovieChat Forums > Winona Ryder Discussion > Why not Winona Horowitz?
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The thing is, while she's so super-touchy about anyone saying something bad about Judaism, she took away her own Jewish persona when she changed her name.
shareYou mean that name her father's family took only when they moved to the US? I don't think she was necessarily taking away any identity by assuming a stage name and ditching a name that had been in her family for less than two generations anyway. As far as I know it was a pretty spontaneous decision, apparently a record by Mitch Ryder was playing in the background when she was asked how she wanted to be credited in her first film.
I wouldn't say that a surname is what gives one a cultural identity, and she seems proud of her background to me.
Is Whoopi Goldberg a self-hating African American because she assumed a Jewish surname? Of course, she isn't. I think you're being a wee bit tough on Winona.
I'm sure there's a degree of doubt with her picking a different last name.
It's not that she was named Shithead or Boogerman, she just had a very Jewish last name.
So, again, what was the logic other than "I don't wanna go Jewish, I prefer a general English origin"?
For someone so outspoken Jewish, it's a bit odd.
You're right, Winona Shithead would be an unfortunate birth name.
Winona Horowitz doesn't exactly roll off the tongue well either, to be fair. I find it a bit off that an Anglo-American can adopt a stage name without question, but if the person has a Jewish background it's an immediate red flag that they are embarrassed by or trying to conceal their heritage.
I don't see many people rushing to old Thomas Mapother IV's page to criticize him for picking a pseudonym with a bit more pizzazz, you know?
I'm pretty sure Tom Cruise uses his mom's last name because he hated his father.
I agree, it's off that an angloamerican can get a stage name. But let's delve deeper: they can get another angloamerican name, not a "minority"one, or it would be even more "suspicious" than Crocetti getting Martin.
Couldn't Horowitz pick Goldberg? Or Silverman? Etc. Ryder is not Jewish, I understand your points and I agree, but I also don't go around waving my "ethnicity".
It would be weird if she picked Lafayette or DeLaCruz or Bonetti, wouldn't it?
I don't know man, I think her choice of stage name (made when she was not much more than a child, keep in mind) is no more noteworthy than Betty Joan Perske becoming Lauren Bacall or Bernice Frankel becoming Bea Arthur. That's showbiz bay-beh.
I just don't think Winona is a phony, which seems to be the inference.
I think she could have made a stronger, more believable statement about her "inheritance" with her real name.
Like this, it's like Micheal Jackson having a song about how it doesn't matter if you are black or white........
are you joking? her name is horror witz dude
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