motel as a faygala?
why is motel portrayed as a limp-wristed faygala in the narrative?
when Motel first enters the narrative, he's portrayed as a Jewish nelly with no spine.
no wonder Topol pushes him around.
Why use that term? Isn't "faygala" the Yiddish equivalent to "fagg*t"?
Anyway, in the film, Motel is played (wonderfully, I think) by Leonard Frey, who played the self-proclaimed "Jew fairy" in both the stage and film versions of "Boys in the Band," and Frey was gay in real life. Perhaps he was directed to be a bit fey, or perhaps Frey was just naturally a little fey. However, I don't think he reads as strictly "gay" as Motel. He's a bit effeminate in the early scenes, but after he stands up to Teyve, marries his daughter, and (later) gets his sewing machine, he is far more commanding and masculine.
Sidenote: Frey played Mendel in the original Broadway show.
shareI think Motel gave a bad handshake, because he lacked self-confidence in front of the father of the woman he loved. He was quite afraid of Tevye, and what Tevye might do to him if he found out.
AnnieBell
Perfect Love casts out all fear.
Note that Motel is a good and sincere man. He starts out as a tailor who is paid a low(?) wage and he eventually acquires his own sewing machine, which would have meant a great deal to a poor tailor at the turn of the 19th/20th century. Motel loved his wife whom he had known all his life and those kinds of concepts are very important to the whole story. 'faygala?' Bah! Consider the time and place and culture and "Tradition!" [smiles]
John Martin, 49, Homosexual Man, Texas, USA
I don't think he was effeminate as much as he was passive, quiet and unassuming. I think the scene where he puts on the top hat is where he really becomes a man.
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