watched the musical since pre-school and the thought just came to me. is this what doping does to someone?
That I can tell you in on word: Tradition.
serious? i meant the fiddler himself.
Seriously. It’s, like, the first words spoken in the movie.
The allegory is that it’s a guy playing a violin, who’s on the roof of a house.
Deep.
is it a sign that you should travel? or settle down? get married and take root? you know, shallow things.
The title is based on this painting by Marc Chagall. I don’t think there’s much more to it than that.
IIRC from when we read it in the Weekly Reader back in 7th grade, the precariousness of being perched on a roof with both hands occupied was supposed to mirror the fragility of the human condition.
If you watch the link, the Fiddler actually represents the precarious nature of life. Tradition is what gives the Fiddler (life) the balance so he doesn’t fall and break his neck.
Ah, the Weekly Reader. Fond memories of a periodical for kids that didn’t pander or patronize.
Absolutely. Without tradition, their lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof.
<Jewish Grandmother>What? You don’t listen to the lyrics?</JG> They pretty much say it flat out.
As opposed to Goofus and his uptight buddy Gallant!
*A fiddler on the roof, a most unlikely sight
It might not mean a thing, but then again it might!
*
A fiddler in the snow, a most amusing sight
He would be on the roof, but he fell off last night.
If the first scene doesn’t answer it the last one does. As Tevye and family are leaving to go to Uncle Avram in Chicago, America, he takes the Fiddler with him. The Fiddler is tradition/faith/heritage/Anatevka/Judaism/etc.: he lives a shaky existence but manages to make a happy tune anyway and never falls, and you take him with you wherever you go.
Rabbi told me the fiddler is tradition.
Tevye is an allegory for the fiddler. A man trying to preserve order in his life as things change around him. His daughters marrying further and further from the Jewish faith. Then finally the family is evicted from the village. That completes the destruction of Tevye’s old life. A new phase begins.
A juggler is a similar Western allegory. He’s desperately keeping those three balls in the air despite everything happening around him.