In her report, Rachel Becker not only discusses the two most prevalent archetypes for female Jewish characters but also the origin of these ideas. The "Jewish Mother" and the "Jewish American Princess" stereotypes, like many stereotypes for American Jewish people, originated from the culture clash of Western/Central European Jews trying to integrate into American society. 

In Europe, the woman was the head of the house and supported the family so the men could study Torah (essentially the Jewish Bible); when they came to America, though, gender roles for the middle class were more rigid and the women were forced to give up this role they'd always held, so they were still domineering, they just didn't have the social standing to back it up. The "Jewish Mother" archetype developed when the children of these first-generation American mothers began creating media and basing characters off of their childhood views of their mothers. Even though this guilt-inciting, nagging, overbearing Jewish mother figure really only existed in the 1950s and 1960s, this idea has been perpetuated by the media to the point where almost every Jewish mother in the media acts this way.

After World War II, many Jewish people and families fled to the U.S. for safety and in the hopes of prosperity. Like many immigrants today, they were looking for a better life in the land of the free and the home of the brave. After their suffering in Europe, these new Jewish Americans found prosperity and wanted to make sure their children never knew the squalor they had lived in, particularly their daughters. In an ironic twist, this "princess" ideal was one the Jewish Americans sought in order to fit in with the gentiles (non-Jews), who were the original "JAP"s. The idea that these traits were purely Jewish spread and has been kept up by the media ever since.

The presentation of Jewish women in the media of fiction, television, and film in the last fifty years is fairly uniform: either Jewish women are absent or they play what initially appears to be an unlikeable, one dimensional character present for comedic relief. Although many negative characteristics and stereotypes of Jewish women show no sign of vanishing completely, today’s media has made a conscious effort to diversify the characters portrayed. 

Ironically, many of the traits attributed to a JAP, were traits of the gentiles of the era that these new princesses were trying to imitate (Booker 39). Regardless, the materialistic, spoiled rotten, and vain princess has become associated with the Jewish culture. 

The Jewish mother is a character with whom many are familiar. She is derived from the “Yiddishe Mama” originating in Europe who loves and protects her children in a less dictatorial way than the Jewish mother with whom our culture is familiar.

Even Orange is the New Black, a show lauded for its excellent representation, features the "Jewish Mother" archetype in Larry Bloom's mother. The phrase "Jewish guilt" is well-known and well-used. The word "JAP" is thrown around without a thought, particularly around here. I have been asked why my nose isn't bigger, if I'm really Jewish. People believe Jewish Americans run the banks and big media and there is a Big Plan to run this nation/the world... the same theories Hitler and Goebbels spread with films and flyers throughout Germany are all over the Internet and sometimes given air-time on the news. Stereotypes are harmful and reusing these archetypes only serves to keep them alive. As Becker pointed out, Jewish representation in the media is not great, but the representation of Jewish women is even worse. She believed the media was improving; however, it has been six years since she wrote this report, and sadly, I've yet to see any improvement.

Source:

Becker, R. (2008). Exploring the portrayal of American Jewish women in fiction, film, and television. Retrieved from https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/bitstream/handle/10288/628/Exploring%20the%20Portrayal%20of%20Jewish%20Women%20In%20Film,%20Television,%20and%20Fiction.pdf?sequence=1