My Big Fat Greek Feeding Movie Analysis
Abstract：Toula’s father firstly refused this marriage, but out of the love for daughter and the young man’s inclusion, he helped them hold a big weeding and bought a house as a gift to this couple.
Key Words：intercultural marriage, Greek culture, self-surrender, inclusive, religious
Part 1: Introduction
My Big Fat Greek Weeding is a romantic comedy film which is centered on Fotoula“Toula” Portokalos, a middle class Greek American woman who falls in love with a non-Greek upper class “White Anglo-Saxon Protestant” lan Miller. Toula is a dull girl, being a waitress in the restaurant. She desperately wants to throw the yoke of her family, and with the help of her mother and aunt, she is able to be educated in college. She begins to curl her …show more content…
Furthermore, it is pointed out that cross-cultural problems can easily be avoided when both parties are ready to understand and accept each other opinion and cultural identity. Toula’s father, for example, feels personally attacked by the decision of his daughter not to get married to a Greek man. But the fact that Ian even gets baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church for the sake of Toula and her family convinces Gus in the end that he deserves to get married to his beloved daughter. The Portokalos clan is portrayed as the stereotypical Greek family: They are loud, crazy, greedy, chaotic, chatty, old-fashioned, warm-hearted, proud of their origin and ancestors, caring, vivacious, fiery etc. Certain characters like the one of Gus are a caricature of stereotypical Greek people but nevertheless Joel Zwick achieves to create culturally informative characters. It seems as though these exaggerations are necessary in order to make the differences between the Greek and the American culture visible and understandable for the audience. When Ian’ s parents, for example, meet the Portokalos clan, the differences between the two cultures become obvious. Ian’s parents are the exact opposite of the Greek clan; they are extremely introverted, silent, conservative, reserved etc. Despite the problems at first, the two families learn to adapt very well to each other’s culture. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is highly recommendable since it provides interesting (cross-)cultural insights. Furthermore, the movie shows how misleading the misinterpretation of the values and the attitudes of a foreign culture can be. The message of the movie is to be tolerant when confronted with a foreign
Key Words：intercultural marriage, Greek culture, self-surrender, inclusive, religious
Part 1: Introduction
My Big Fat Greek Weeding is a romantic comedy film which is centered on Fotoula“Toula” Portokalos, a middle class Greek American woman who falls in love with a non-Greek upper class “White Anglo-Saxon Protestant” lan Miller. Toula is a dull girl, being a waitress in the restaurant. She desperately wants to throw the yoke of her family, and with the help of her mother and aunt, she is able to be educated in college. She begins to curl her …show more content…
Furthermore, it is pointed out that cross-cultural problems can easily be avoided when both parties are ready to understand and accept each other opinion and cultural identity. Toula’s father, for example, feels personally attacked by the decision of his daughter not to get married to a Greek man. But the fact that Ian even gets baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church for the sake of Toula and her family convinces Gus in the end that he deserves to get married to his beloved daughter. The Portokalos clan is portrayed as the stereotypical Greek family: They are loud, crazy, greedy, chaotic, chatty, old-fashioned, warm-hearted, proud of their origin and ancestors, caring, vivacious, fiery etc. Certain characters like the one of Gus are a caricature of stereotypical Greek people but nevertheless Joel Zwick achieves to create culturally informative characters. It seems as though these exaggerations are necessary in order to make the differences between the Greek and the American culture visible and understandable for the audience. When Ian’ s parents, for example, meet the Portokalos clan, the differences between the two cultures become obvious. Ian’s parents are the exact opposite of the Greek clan; they are extremely introverted, silent, conservative, reserved etc. Despite the problems at first, the two families learn to adapt very well to each other’s culture. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is highly recommendable since it provides interesting (cross-)cultural insights. Furthermore, the movie shows how misleading the misinterpretation of the values and the attitudes of a foreign culture can be. The message of the movie is to be tolerant when confronted with a foreign