The hermeneutics of casting: Mythological actors and characters in the Israeli drama series BeTipul (In Treatment)

This article offers a close reading of the casting in the Israeli drama series BeTipul (the original series for the HBO adaption In Treatment). My analysis views casting as a key mechanism of meaning-making in television series and explores its heightened cultural and social significance in recent Israeli television dramas. I explore, in particular, how through the casting of well-known actors, who have previously portrayed key mythological figures, old national myths are challenged in an almost iconoclastic manner that adds symbolic layers to the series, layers that might be overlooked by viewers who are unfamiliar with the specific cultural background