Moon Knight - SPOILERS

[pukunui]

Being Jewish is not just an ethnicity, but is separately also a religion, and yes, that causes confusion. It is a religion that can be born into or converted to. After all, one of Trump's daughters converted to Judaism when she married her husband, so now she is Jewish.

I am aware of that. It still felt a bit odd to me.

 

[Tonguez]

I did find it a bit odd that Marc created Steven to deal with his mom's abuse, yet that's Marc's memory, not Steven's ... even though it was Steven at the receiving end of the abuse.

It looked to me that Steven was Marcs ‘happy place’ while he dealt with the abuse - however the fact that he pulled Steven out of the room and closed the door before Steven saw any actual beating does hint at a third personality - who actually endured the physical abuse

Im guessing the guy with the injured nose talking to Dr Harrow might have been the third too

 

[MoonSong]

It looked to me that Steven was Marcs ‘happy place’ while he dealt with the abuse - however the fact that he pulled Steven out of the room and closed the door before Steven saw any actual beating does hint at a third personality - who actually endured the physical abuse

Im guessing the guy with the injured nose talking to Dr Harrow might have been the third too

Plot twist the third personality is alive and in control of the body

 

[Umbran]

I also was a little confused as to how Marc's scales could balance by dealing with Steven but not the as-yet-unrevealed third personality. I bet you that's his "bundle of rage" from his mother's abuse bubbling away in his subconscious or something.

I think that's a little off - remember, we should be thinking in the dissociative identity disorder paradigm.

I have a theory. Marc is the core personality. Steven is the personality that allows him some semblance of a "normal" life, ignorant of the pain that he's gone through.

But... who was taking those beatings? It wasn't Steven. And it wasn't Marc - I don't think someone who'd lived through that would think of showing up to sit shiva. I expect the third personality is the one created to take those beatings for Marc and Steven.

(edit: Tonguez beat me to it)

 

[Umbran]

Plot twist the third personality is alive and in control of the body

Hard to do with a bullet in the chest, though.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I am aware of that. It still felt a bit odd to me.

I looked around a bit and while Oscar Isaac is Christian and not Jewish, his family name, Isaac, is Jewish on his father's side. His parents are from Cuba and Honduras, I think it was, and while small, there is a Jewish segment among Hispanics. So for Marc's family to look like the actor and still be Jewish, and at some point probably fled persecution to come to the US, is not a huge stretch. Now, I don't know if we will ever find out the decision by the writers and director to make Marc Jewish, but seeing so much of his past family life, I would like to think it had a reason other than just being different than the usual Christian, and mainly Catholic, stuff that we get when dramas include religion.

 

[Umbran]

... but we've only got one episode left ....

I am half hoping they use the fact that it isn't broadcast to be flexible, and have that final episode be a bit longer. With Wandavision, for example, the final episode was twice as long as the first.

 

[pukunui]

I think that's a little off - remember, we should be thinking in the dissociative identity disorder paradigm.

I have a theory. Marc is the core personality. Steven is the personality that allows him some semblance of a "normal" life, ignorant of the pain that he's gone through.

But... who was taking those beatings? It wasn't Steven. And it wasn't Marc - I don't think someone who'd lived through that would think of showing up to sit shiva. I expect the third personality is the one created to take those beatings for Marc and Steven.

(edit: Tonguez beat me to it)

Yeah, that's a fair point. Perhaps Marc knows about personality #3 but has been in denial about it. I still feel like that would result in his scales continuing to be out of balance. But whatever - bring on the finale!

I looked around a bit and while Oscar Isaac is Christian and not Jewish, his family name, Isaac, is Jewish on his father's side. His parents are from Cuba and Honduras, I think it was, and while small, there is a Jewish segment among Hispanics. So for Marc's family to look like the actor and still be Jewish, and at some point probably fled persecution to come to the US, is not a huge stretch. Now, I don't know if we will ever find out the decision by the writers and director to make Marc Jewish, but seeing so much of his past family life, I would like to think it had a reason other than just being different than the usual Christian, and mainly Catholic, stuff that we get when dramas include religion.

Fair enough!

 

[Umbran]

I looked around a bit and while Oscar Isaac is Christian and not Jewish, his family name, Isaac, is Jewish on his father's side.

Well, that's not his family name. His full name is Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada - paternal surname Hernández, maternal surname Estrada. The name Isaac does come from his father's side of the family, but not his father directly.

Now, I don't know if we will ever find out the decision by the writers and director to make Marc Jewish, but seeing so much of his past family life, I would like to think it had a reason other than just being different than the usual Christian, and mainly Catholic, stuff that we get when dramas include religion.

Well, canonically in the comics, Marc Spector is Jewish. I expect it was thought that having a non-Jewish actor portray a Jewish character was better than completely erasing the character's heritage.

 

[Tonguez]

. Now, I don't know if we will ever find out the decision by the writers and director to make Marc Jewish, but seeing so much of his past family life, I would like to think it had a reason other than just being different than the usual Christian, and mainly Catholic, stuff that we get when dramas include religion.

According to one source it was an accident. Moonknight was created in 1975 as a supernatural hero who was a mercenary possessed by the Egyptian god Khonshu.
In 1980 the writer Doug Moench needed a name so called him Marc Spector after a friend but did not realise that the name was Jewish.

After Moench left, his replacement was a young Jewish writter who decided to add the backstory that Marcs father was a Rabbi who fled petsecution in Europe and raised his son in the Jewish fairh. Marc Spectors mother however was not Jewish by birth (and thus neither is her child) - so Oscar Isaac is in fact a perfect match

The great irony for me of course is that the Jewishness of the character didnt stop the writers invoking and empowering him via the pagan gods of Egypt