Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Fiddler
We don’t have a TV in our house. Well, we really do, but it sits unplugged in the basement and is only pulled out for emergencies. Last time we pulled it out was Election Night 2006, which was an emergency in a way. Between the commercials and the networks’ feeble coverage of the event, I’m not even sure I’ll bother with the TV this time around.
We don’t watch many movies either. I think it’s been about five years since I’ve been in a theater. I’ve rented one or two movies since then, but even that was enough of a hassle to be barely worth it. It’s hard to find something worth the time, anyway.
One thing we have done lately is started to introduce the kids to some older movie musicals that are memorable to my wife and I. For some inexplicable reason, about six months ago I found myself humming “Tradition”, from Fiddler on the Roof, in the shower. It was one of those strange things, where something buried deep in your mind randomly makes it’s way to your subconscious, and it takes you a minute to even realize that it has percolated up.
I don’t even remember seeing Fiddler on the Roof as a kid. I did remember that song and a couple others, which as they one by one percolated up and infected my mind, I started humming obsessively.
So finally, Christmas rolls around and we arrange for Fiddler on the Roof to be under the Christmas tree. It was for the kids. Really.
My wife and I watched the first half of it with the kids Christmas night, and then watched the second half after they went to bed.
I had seen it before. I didn’t remember the plot except for at a very high level, I didn’t remember the characters, and I only remembered a few of the scenes. But the music was unmistakably familiar. I probably hadn’t heard it in a couple decades, but I had heard it. Kim’s comment about Sweeney Todd, about not having any of the songs be all that memorable, made me laugh just because of the contrast.
As I was rediscovering the music all over again, I felt like I was seeing the story for the first time. I hardly remembered that at all.
Besides the clear and lamentable plight of the Jews, there was a blunt depiction of the old ways and the new. The good and the bad of each, in stark contrast.
Arranged marriages fall by the wayside. One daughter ends up poor but happy, another ends up in Siberia awaiting the release of her Communist agitator husband from prison, another marries a man outside the faith and gets disowned. Times are changing!
Tradition! It provides a guide in troubled times. It provides a conduit through which cultural wisdom is passed down from generation to generation, so that each generation can avoid mistakes that have already been made and solved.
And yet, tradition can be unfair, inflexible, petrified, and archaic. Improvements can bounce right off, since that’s not how it’s done.
It’s a theme I’ve written about here before, and one that sticks with me. Take the good and leave the bad. Or your daughter might run off with a Communist.
Comments
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“Rabbi, is there a proper blessing for the Tzar?”
“A blessing for the Tzar? Of course! May the Lord bless and keep the Tzar - far away from us.”
---“And would it spoil some vast eternal plan, if.. I.. were.. a wealthy.. maaaannnnn?!?”
---Probably my wife’s favorite movie. If not then second to Pride and Predjudice. Come to think of it, the there are parallel themes… hmmmm.
Thanks for the reminder of a great show!
Rob | 1/9/2008 03:00 PM CDT -
Tevye is apparently based on a character from older Jewish folklore. I’ve always been interested to learn about some of his other stories.
Never been a big fan of musicals, myself...not even the older ones that don’t suck. But it was a great story.
Matt | 1/10/2008 10:04 AM CDT -
I’ve not seen Fiddler on the Roof.
But don’t forget An American in Paris, and Singin’ in the Rain. You can’t beat Gene Kelly.
Weetabix | 1/10/2008 02:08 PM CDT
