‘We are merely furniture’: Palestinian actors and actresses react to rationalization and racialization processes in the Israeli TV market

Abstract

This study aims to explore Palestinian-Israeli actors’ and actresses’ experiences in the Israeli TV market and their understanding of the rationalization/racialization processes taking place in the global television industry, which is dominated by Streaming Video On Demand platforms. The study is based on observations and interviews. The observations were conducted on the set of the internationally successful action drama Fauda during its second season. Fauda is a co-production of Netflix and the Israeli satellite conglomerate YES. It portrays the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in a way that some see as Zionist and hegemonic. The interviews were conducted with the Palestinian-Israeli actors and actresses. Our analysis of their experiences on the set of Fauda shows a dialectical and complex reality in which self-exploitation, which results in justifying playing terrorists and villains for the sake of money or art, resolves itself into an antithesis of subversion.