![]() I ask the class to use the four-level worldview construct to organize the elements of Tevye’s worldview described in the film. Scene One: Tradition! The first scene (1:40–12:00 on ITunes version of Fiddler) introduces the protagonist, Tevye, and the cultural conventions that govern his daily decisions through the song, Tradition. Tradition! Tevye and the cultural rules/conventions (Level 2), theological principles (Level 3), and authoritative story, Torah (Level 4), that undergird his life (Level 1). ![]() When using Fiddler to teach worldview, I use six scenes to trace the transformation of the upper levels of Tevye’s worldview, and his ultimate resistance to change at his worldview’s deepest level (Scene times in parenthesis are from the downloadable ITunes version.) Some of Anatevka’s strongest cultural conventions surround the roles and rules surrounding the institution of marriage. Over the course of the film, Tevye’s three daughter’s confront him with more and more counter-cultural views of marriage, which in turn drives Tevye to explore his worldview at deeper and deeper levels. (4) the foundational Stories and Myths that form the authoritative “scriptures” for both the macro-worldview of the society we live in, as well as our more personalized micro-worldview (See, Casablanca and the Four Levels of Worldview.)įrom the four-level construct perspective, Tevye’s worldview is a set of stories from the foundational Scriptures of The Torah (the “Holy Book” or “Good book” in Tevye’s language) of how God has revealed himself and his law to his people Israel (Level 4), from which generations of Rabbinic scholarship have drawn key theological beliefs and ethical values (Level 3), from which synagogue and societal leaders have constructed cultural conventions and rules for daily life (Level 2), from which the residents of Anatevka live out their faith in their daily behaviors and moral judgments (Level 1). (3) the Beliefs and Values that form the and presuppositional principles of our belief system, and especially (2) the Rules and Roles of personal strategies and cultural conventions that form the ‘scripts’ we follow in most of our decisions without ever thinking about-as well as the resiliency of worldview at its deepest levels (1) the visible Actions and Behaviors of our day-to-day decisions, and Tevye ( Topol) and Golde’s ( Norma Crane) three oldest daughters-Tzeitel ( Rosalind Harris), Hodel ( Michele Marsh), and Chava ( Neva Small)-provide the storyline that so clearly illustrates all four levels of worldview: It is a task made all the more difficult by the fact that God has blessed them, not with economically viable and socially valuable sons, but five daughters. Fiddler chronicles the life of a small Jewish community seeking to maintain their cultural balance (like a fiddler on the roof) in the Gentile-dominated Czarist Russian village of Anatevka. The story’s protagonist, Tevye, is a poor dairy farmer seeking to scratch out a meager existence with his wife Golde. The film also provides a beautiful illustration of the adaptability of worldview at the upper levels: 1) Actions/Decisions and 2) Rules of Life/Culture. After four Broadway revivals, three London runs, and countless high school and community theatre performances, Fiddler became one of the more influential cultural works of the late twentieth-century. The Hollywood version (1971) lost the Academy Award Best Picture nod to the more cutting-edge The French Connection, but still managed a box office of over 365 million dollars (adjusted for inflation), making it the 9 th highest grossing musical of all time. It won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical. On Broadway (1964), Fiddler was the first musical to surpass 3,000 performances. “ Fiddler on the Roof (1971) is one of the most beloved dramas of the stage and screen. ![]() “Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as… a fiddler on the roof!” -Tevye by Gary David Stratton Part of ongoing series: Hollywood and Higher Education: Teaching Worldview Through the Stories We Live By ![]()
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