There Wont be a Big Fat Jewish Wedding

The interaction between Tevye and his third daughter Chava seems like an early example of the generational differences later seen in works by authors such as Odets or Yezierska. Chava chooses to look at people as individuals. As for Tevye he sees the world as divided by those who are Jewish and those who are not. (Think the father from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.) Tevye spouts the Bible just like Tula’s father quoted Greek history.

The more that I think about it, My Big Fat Greek Wedding does seem like a modern version of Chava. The daughter chooses to marry outside her religion and ethnicity, and the father has a very hard time with acceptance. The big difference between these two stories is the times they are set.

Tevye’s story is during a time when inter-faith marriages were an unheard-of occurrence. In our day in age, when the movie was set, it is more common for children to marry outside of their race or religion. But there are still those few “Old World” parents who have trouble accepting their children marrying someone “different.” Most of these parents have the same reaction as Tevye. They feel ashamed and only think of how they will look throughout the whole situation. Not many stop to think about how their son or daughter feels.

Another difference between this story and the movie is reflected through the differing times. In Tevye’s story he disowned his daughter. He was unable accept the choice that his daughter made. He took a drastic, but not uncommon approach for this time. He disowned his daughter. The same was not true in the movie. Tula’s father eventually caved and they all had their “Big Fat Greek Wedding.”