![]() ![]() As Haart says in the show, “every little crop-top, every mini-skirt” is an “emblem of freedom.” This avenue out of Orthodox modesty norms, lived as a restrictive rule by Haart, is mainly shown by the creation and presentation of clothes uncovering the body. After following tziniut – Jewish codes of modesty – for most of her life, she becomes highly involved in the creation of secular women’s clothing, from lingerie to footwear. This standpoint is also advanced to understand Haart’s success as a CEO and co-owner of a fashion company. These values would have been inconsistent with a strict interpretation of Halakha. The transition or the “fight out of the community,” as expressed in the show, is presented as what has enabled the protagonist to build her religiously and sexually diverse and inclusive family. The secular and liberal world, characterized as a place of creation of a new set of values, is portrayed as a path for emancipation. The journey Haart and her family take from religiosity to secularism over the show’s nine episodes is key to Haart’s professional and personal achievements. ![]() While traumatic experiences are mentioned, the main story is about the successes of the protagonist, Julia Haart, once she exits ultra-Orthodoxy. In “My Unorthodox Life,” this narrative is somewhat altered. Women are generally cast in the leading roles, with the shows drawing on a liberal feminist trope of exposing religious life as traumatizing and oppressive. While Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox worlds are extremely diverse in their practices of Jewish laws, known as Halakha, popular depictions do not encapsulate this plurality. Mainstream TV typically tells exiters’ stories in a context of wider criticisms of ultra-Orthodoxy, which is presented as religious extremism or fundamentalism. Instead of just discussing it privately and informally, many women participated, for the first time, in a public social media campaign to tell their own stories. But with “My Unorthodox Life,” ultra-Orthodox women responded to the image being projected in the show in an unpredecented way.
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