Daeus Lamb

Everyone remember to watch the movie! It will deepen your understanding of this article.

Hey Daeus, great article about a great movie. I enjoyed how thorough you were with your analysis.

I think, in addition to the reasons you listed, two reasons that the movie’s gradual slide from tradition to progressivism is so convincing, especially to modern conservative Christian audiences, are that 1) the movie started at least a step to the right of where its intended audience was and 2) it used a stand-in belief system.

1) Since most audiences watching Fiddler likely believe that arranged marriages are an extrabiblical tradition of the past for the majority of people, it’s not hard for them to side with Tzeitel against tradition for tradition’s sake. I think we’ve seen how effective these arguments are in our world today. The conservative thinker has not taken the time to study his/her traditions, to find out if or why the traditions are important, so when the progressive thinker dismantles a tradition or ideology that was followed simply because “that’s the way we’ve always done it,” then it’s easier to dismantle other traditions or ideologies, even if they were based on something fundamental. As Tevye himself says at the beginning of the movie, he has no idea where the traditions came from, and I think that’s eventually what leads to his downfall.

2) As a Gentile Christian who loves Fiddler, I’ve felt conflicted by Chava’s marriage before. On the one hand, she deliberately disobeys her parents and goes behind their backs to marry someone outside of her family’s faith. But on the other hand, it seems that she may have converted to Christianity in the process. It could be viewed as similar to the conversion journey of the Muslim girl in the first “God’s Not Dead” movie. She deliberately disobeyed her father by converting to Christianity, but in that instance, she was praised for her bravery. I don’t believe that the ends justify the means, but part of the reason that the argument for the ends justifying the means is so strong in Fiddler for me at least is because it’s an end that I agree with. Had positions been reversed, I’m sure it would be easier to disagree with.

This was an amazing article!
I am currently writing a book that has three main characters that are normal people with normal life experiences. Until stuff starts happening and they are running around fighting for their lives. At the end of the book, they will all be captured, and I want to kill off one or two of them because, in real life, they wouldn’t be able to survive. They don’t have any secret training or anything that should help them get out alive. If I were in their situation, I would die. Most people would die.
How would you suggest I go about making my book real, without killing the hope? The characters are all Christian, but how far can I really take their belief in the promise that it’s all God’s plan? Should that take them years? Is it possible to not lose hope when you watch a dear friend/significant other die and realize that you are alone against a huge evil organization?
Thank you so much!

Wow! Really great thoughts Daeus! Especially enjoyed the section on depicting suffering realistically. You brought up some great points!

Well done. I suppose if you are writing a tough scene and don’t weep as you write, you might need to dig a little deeper!

Hi Daeus, I just found this article. It was a fascinating read, but I have a question. So, in terms of writing about suffering, how do you write about the aftermath of a betrayal?

To keep the long story short my character is a shapeshifter. Shapeshifters are outlawed and are to be put to death. And my MC’s best friend has just betrayed the MC to the authorities.

So, what now? I’m not talking about in terms of the plot (spoilers: she’s not going to die just yet), I’m talking about internally. What’s going to be going through her head? On the one hand, the MC does have at least some understanding of why her friend did it. Her friend is scared of shapeshifters (not just for herself but for what shifters have done in the past to her family), and to an extent so is the MC. But on the other hand, her friend did, in a way, just sentence her to death. To make matters worse, this isn’t the first time someone has detrimentally betrayed the MC’s trust.

How do I write about this? What will be the short-term internal effect of this betrayal? And (while I’m at it) what will be the long-term effects?