My Big Fat Greek Wedding Essay

My Big Fat Greek Wedding Essay
Family Analysis of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" In the 2002 movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding,
one can find many interesting family details. The story is about a Greek woman, Toula Portokalos,
who falls in love with a non–Greek man, how she gets her family to accept him, and how she sees
herself as a Greek individual. As for structure, the family is very patriarchal in nature. This is
evidenced by the way in which the women in the Portokalos family goes about breaking the news
that Toula wants to work at her aunt's travel agency. As Toula's mother says, "The man is the head
of the house, but the woman is the neck." The women trick Toula's father into thinking that it was
his idea to have her work at the agency so he will allow her to work there....show more content...
According to the text, "families add their own controls to achieve peace and quiet" by using
family myths (CITATION, pg. 132). In other words, to help keep structure and the family in line
there are myths that are formed to keep the family closer. This is seen when Gus believes that
Windex can heal any wound; he sprays the cleaning product on cuts, rashes, and even pimples!
The Greek family believes that spitting on a loved one warns off evil spirits. There is also the
myth that a Greek woman has to marry a Greek man. Of course, Ian didn't have to be baptized for
him to marry Toula, but as a sign of respect for the family he did. Keeping everything the same
and keeping everything Greek is a way for the family to achieve their "peace and quiet." Another
theory that explains how to family relates to each other is through the balance of social
/behavioral exchange as explained in cognitive behavioral theory. The theory of social exchange
is when "people strive to maximize rewards and minimize costs" and the behavior exchange theory
is when "there is a high ratio of benefits to costs" (CITATION, pg. 168). Basically, the balance of
social/behavioral exchange is about balanced relations; there is a balance in giving a
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What Is My Big Fat Greek Wedding Essay
I.Introduction A.What's the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a film released in 2002 under the
direction of Joel Zwick. It is a Canadian–American romantic comedy film written by and featuring
NiaVardalos. The film revolves around the life of Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos, a Greek–American
lady in the lower middle class who fell in love with a non–Greek upper middle class Ian Miller. It
was selected for nominations for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 75th Academy
Awards. It was an instant hit and the film turned out to be the highest–grossing romantic comedy of
all time, which with revenues up to $241 with 4 million in North America alone, regardless of not
once reaching number one at the box office during its showing dates. 1.What is the religious element
in movie Religious elements in this film include weddings, wedding...show more content...
It is about a Greek family surrounded by foreigners in a foreign island, and the challenge of
maintaining their culture in contradiction to the influence of these strangers. The course of the
movie is determined by how the approach of the characters affected each other, and how they
accomplished to respond. Eventually, the Greek family gave in to the marriage. However, later
on in the movie, it was revealed that the resilient impact of the Greek traditions were able to
penetrate the tradition of the Millers. Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos, is going through an early
midlife crisis. At the age of thirty, she is the unwed woman in her family who has been
unsuccessful due to the fact that her family supposes her to marry a Greek man, make Greek
children, and feed all people until the day she dies. Instead, Toula is trapped employed in a diner,
"Dancing Zorba's", the family business in Chicago. In contrast to her perfect sister, Athena, Toula is
unfashionable and pessimistic. She is worried that she is condemned to be stuck with her life as it

Essay On My Big Fat Greek Wedding
During the last few lectures of our communications class, we have been watching the entirety of the
movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Throughout the movie, we see many examples and ideas relating
to communication topics such as non–verbal cues and intercultural relationships, or lack thereof. For
this paper, the focus will be on the intercultural communication between Toula, herfamily, and Ian
and his family. As depicted by a few scenes in the movie, the cultural gap between the Greeks and
the Americans is not so easy to overcome; especially for characters like Toula's Father.
Now what is Intercultural Communication? This idea is defined as the interaction/communication
between individuals or groups who come from different backgrounds, speak...show more content...
He never even gave himself the chance to get to know Ian, but he disapproved of their relationship
solely because he was not a Greek. This lack of acceptance for another person based on their culture
shows the audience that Gus is not well–versed in the ways of intercultural communication; in fact,
he's quite the incompetent when it comes to it. This idea of intercultural communication competence
is part of a scholarly theory that says the following: "competent intercultural communication is not
something one does but rather something that one is perceived to be. One's motivations, knowledge,
and skills lead to a context–specific impression that desirable outcomes (effectiveness,
appropriateness, and perhaps satisfaction) have been achieved" (Spitzberg, 2013, Spitzberg and
Chagnon, 2009 and Spitzberg and Cupach, 2011). Using this theory, one can see why Gus is not so
great at intercultural communication; Gus is not "motivated" to learn about other cultures, he's not
"knowledgeable" about other cultures, and lastly he does not have the "skill" or even the desire to
find Common ground or an understating between the two cultures. Not surprisingly, Ian's parents
aren't much better than Gus when it comes to intercultural

Greek Culture: My Big Fat Greek Wedding
I do think Mediterranean food, especially Greek, has become more popular in recent years and
much of this is due to the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" which gave the Greek culture
widespread exposure in this country. I know of three restaurants in my city that are capitalizing on
this with similar names for their dining establishments. Commercialism aside, I think that once
people do patronize and experience food that they might have otherwise skipped in favor of a
hamburger or whatever, they would most likely be happy they did.
A trend that has also become popular and is utilized in Mediterranean cultures are small plates of
different food items called "Tapas" and these bring a completely different take to the traditionally
huge portion

My Big Fat Greek Wedding Summary
Synopsis "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" stars Nia Vardalos as Toula Portokalos, a 30
–year–old
daughter in a Greek family living in a city. The movie opens with Toula's father, Gus Portokalos
(Michael Constantine), picking her up in a rain storm and telling her she needs to get married
because she is getting old. Toula then recounts her childhood, telling of the difficulties involved with
growing up in a Greek family. Toula's life has been less than stellar to this point, but that all
changes when Ian Miller (John Corbett), a teacher at a local school, walks into her parent's
restaurant. It is love at first sight for Toula, but she is too awkward and nervous to converse with
the handsome stranger. He leaves. Shortly thereafter, Toula convinces her father and mother
(played by Lainie Kazan) to allow her to attend community college and take computer classes.
Later, she enlists her mother's help in convincing her stubborn father into letting her work at her
aunt's travel agency, using her newfound skills to help the business. At this job, she runs into Ian
again as he is getting food from a vendor outside, and the two hit it off. The duo begins dating and
falls in love. But Ian is not Greek, so he is unacceptable to Toula's father. Knowing this, she does
not tell him. He finds out, however, and denies Ian permission to date his daughter. They continue
going out anyway, and eventually Ian proposes. Toula ecstatically accepts. Now, Gus and the rest of
the Portokalos must accept their daughter's choice. Ian is baptized in the Greek orthodox church as
an olive branch toward Gus. He learns more about Greek culture and family life, including at an
Easter celebration with the family. His parents visit a gigantic, boisterous party attended the entire
Portokalos family. Finally, Toula and Ian, who is by now almost completely accepted, get married.
At the reception, Gus delivers a touching speech that concludes with the fact the Miller's and
Portokalos come from different cultures, but they are all still people. In the end, Toula and Ian move
into a house Gus and Maria bought them next door. The movie concludes with the couple sending
their daughter off to Greek school, just like Toula before her.
Intercultural

My Big Fat Greek Wedding Analysis
Nationalism, is the pride and belief that an individual vocalizes when they deem their nation
greater than all others. Even with nationalism, we as individuals need to strive for a sense of
discipleship. Being Greek, as portrayed in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and like many other
cultures are nationalistic when speaking about Greece. Growing up as a Greek I had the
opportunity practice Orthodoxy and become a Christ follower. These as well as many other aspects
have shaped my views and beliefs today. Throughout history, nationalism has had good and bad
reputation, but through the acts of discipleship I personally believe that people can change. We have
seen wars fought over the simplest disagreements...show more content...
With any ethnic culture and especially mine there's a sense of pride and superiority over other
cultures and countries. If you have ever seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, it is a perfect
representation of how Greeks think they are superior to others. For example, when the grandfather
comments to the Asian man in the steam room that the Greeks invented everything even if the
things he said sounded ridiculous. Nevertheless, Greeks hold a high traditional of being Greek
Orthodox where it tracks its way back to the first Church of Eastern Europe. With every
Celebration in my culture it encompasses a religious aspect to it such as the celebration of a
person's name day. A child is given a baptismal name during the baptism that the parents choose
and that name correlates to their name day. For example, Christos this name means and represents
Christ therefore the celebration is on Christmas. This created a religious transformation for me
where now if I am walking down the street and I see a man or homeless man on the corner begging
for money I will pull my wallet out and give him as much as I can. I believe that I am practicing the
act of discipleship from the influence of my culture even with the nationalistic

My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Throughout the semester, we have been introduced to many topics related to interpersonal
communication. I have come to believe that these concepts have allowed me to better understand
interactions that occur in our daily lives. My knowledge of these concepts was challenged when
asked to relate these notions to a movie. During the time that I was watching the movie, My Big
Fat Greek Wedding, I realized myself grasping onto what was going on and being able to relate
certain scenes and situations to topics I had previously learned about. Interactions in My Big Fat
Greek Wedding display concepts of conflict and politeness theory, which can be pointed out in a few
specific scenes.
During the movie, I found that these concepts that were...show more content...
Without taking this class, one would already know that an argument, or conflict, is started because
two people want different things, or have incompatible goals. However, one might not know about
the guidelines people can follow in order to prevent the conflict from getting worse, or to prevent an
argument entirely. After learning about these guidelines, it is easier to notice and pay attention to
arguments more, and point out when some of these guidelines should be used.
The second topic that is portrayed in the movie is the politeness theory. To begin explaining what
it entails, a term that plays an important role in the politeness theory will be defined, and that is
"Face." Face is an image or identity we enact in our interactions with other people (Goldsmith,
p.26). Erving Goffman, a sociologist, defined face as "the positive social value a person
effectively claims for himself [or herself] by the line others assume he [or she] has taken during a
particular contact. Face is an image of self delineated in terms of approved social attributes"
(Goldsmith, p.26). Losing or saving face has to do with our ability to stay in character and
behave in a way that fits with expectations for our role. Some ways of losing face have to do with
basic violations of civilized behavior (Goldsmith, p.26). There are also two aspects of face to
which are negative face and positive face. Negative face is the want to be unimpeded, to have
certain rights not to be impeded by

Essay on Analysis of My Big Fat Greek Wedding
During the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, there was a lot of positive and negative
communication that influenced the main character's life decisions. The story is about a young
woman, named Toula, that is of Greek decent who is fearful of being stuck in the life she is now
living. She is a frumpy girl that works in her family's restaurant because she has not been able to
find a Greek man to marry, and because of this, her family claims that she is old and has failed in
life. She is allowed to attend college, which in turn, gives her new confidence and she is able to fall
in love with a non–Greek man that is named, Ian. During the movie she struggles to get her family
to accept him as the man she loves, and she also finally comes to...show more content...
Ian's family is American and they are the opposite of Toula's family, they are part of the low
context culture, like many other American families. One of the biggest differences is that Toula's
family is loud, big and always together and Ian's family is small, quite, and only see each other on
special occasions. Toula and Ian practiced different forms of nonverbalcommunication during the
movie. Nonverbal communication means messages expressed by nonlinguistic means. Ian and
Toula have both used face and eyes as a form of nonverbal communication. When Toula was still
working as a waitress in her family restaurant, the dancing Zorba's, she was caught staring at Ian by
Ian and his friend. Her staring suggests that she was very interested in Ian and thought that he was
handsome but Ian's friend assumed that she was crazy because of how she was staring at Ian. Toula
also caught Ian staring at her in the window of the travel agency that her aunt owns. Ian's staring at
Toula suggested that he was interested in her and thought that she was pretty. Ian used substituting, a
form of nonverbal communication, to say hi to Toula in the window of the travel agency by waving
and smiling at her. There were no words spoken to each other during this scene. Toula used body
orientation to hide from Ian in her family's restaurant behind

III While numerous cultural values are displayed in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," two stand out
as ones that may be universal. Namely, the values of love and family here may pervade across
cultural boundaries. These values may take different forms or possess varying degrees of
importance, but they most likely speak to people no matter their culture. Love, for instance, is
portrayed as something of the utmost importance in this movie. The Portokalos want Toula to get
married, at least in part, so she can find love. Toula wants to marry solely for love, with no other
considerations entering her mind. Love is portrayed as something that can overcome even the
most significant of cultural differences, as it is the reason Ian goes through the trials and
tribulations associated with Toula's family. Similarly, the filmmakers depict family in a way that
people from any culture could relate to it. They show family as an important part of one's life, a
group of close connections who may be idiosyncratic but are looking out for you. While the
importance of family and the intimacy of the relationships of families may differ across cultures,
almost every culture places some value in the family. On the other hand, this movie also contains
some value more specific to Greek culture. The values of respect and fellowship over food,
specifically, are ones this film highlights from Greek culture that are not present everywhere. Some
cultures may have similar values, but for the most part these ones are not universal. They are also
not as heavily emphasized in all cultures as they are in Greek culture. As it relates to respect, "My
Big Fat Greek Wedding" shows how important it is for children to respect their parents in Greek
culture. By Toula not telling her family about her relationship with Ian sooner, and by pursuing a
relationship with a non–Greek, she causes significant strife in her family. This occurs, in part,
because her father sees it as a lack of respect on her part for his wishes and rules. He is also upset
with Ian because Ian did not ask his permission to date or marry, Toula, which again seems
disrespectful. Again, other cultures may also have this value, but it is portrayed as particularly
central in Greek

Film Analysis: My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Provide the name of the Food Culture Film that you viewed.
The movie I veiwed was "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
Share the most meaningful/remarkable findings from your Ethnic Market Visit as related to items
included in your Ethnic Market Report.
I went to the Northgate Gonzales market in Culver City, it was a big market with a lot of
resemblance to any ralphs store when it comes to layout and some traditional american food was
found there aswell. What I found really intresting was that in one of the sections they had PiГ±atas
hanging in the sealing which really stuck out to me. Another thing was the Tortilla section right by
the entrance of the store, here you can find a wide variety of freshly made tortillas, just like any
ralphs has hot

Toula's Life In My Big Fat Greek Wedding
My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a romantic comedy about a 30 year old single woman name Toula
Portokalos. Toula is a Greek women struggles to find her own in a family whose traditional Greek
traditions doesn't match the life she wants to live. According to Toula "There are three things that
every Greek woman must do in life: marry Greek boys, make Greek babies, and feed everyone."
Instead of living up to the tradition as she seek out to try and make something out of herself by
convincing her family in particular her father that it would be a great idea for her to go to college
for computer so it could better help the her aunts traveling agency . During her time working for her
aunt she meet a non–Greek man and sees him in secret while lying

In My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I analyzed the scene where Toula's family is having a party, and Ian
Miller's parents are going to come and meet the family for the first time. This is an extreme clash of
individualistic vs. collectivistic culture. Ian's parents seemed to be a traditional white, American
couple with no sense of foreign food, customs, or culture of any kind. When the parents originally
start walking up to the house, and there have to be at least 30 people outside partying, it is an instant
sense of confusion and intimidation that they seem to feel. Ian's parents hand Toula's parents a
Bundt cake and Toula's parents had never even seen one before. They were so confused about it, that
later in the scene they brought it out...show more content...
But because I was culturally conditioned to be afraid of Compton, I went into that experience
already with a negative attitude, and was unable to curb that until I got that feeling of relief when I
left.
I find that Compton story funny, because it is still related to American culture. I consider myself
a world traveler. I've been fortunate enough to visit the UK, Greece, Germany, Italy, France,
Canada, Mexico, Spain, and Turkey. In all of these situations, I have found myself easy to adapt
and learn from these cultures. I find foreign cultures fascinating, and love to immerse myself in
them. I honestly feel fearless and no intimidation by them, and do not consider myself to be
ethnocentric at all. When I travel with my Dad, he gets annoyed when things aren't as he expects
them to be, and when I mean "expects" I mean American. I realize when I travel that they aren't
supposed to be like America, and that is the whole point. So to get to the final question, adapting to
foreign cultural norms and values is a lot easier for me to do that adapting to different American
styles of culture. When in another country, I use it as education: to better myself, and to understand
the world. Being somewhere like Compton, because the media has already familiarized myself with
the "idea" of what Compton is and all about, I have a preconceived notion about it, and in the end,
ruins any kind of assimilation possible, if there could have

For my next film assignment, I picked the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". The main plot
involves a 30 year old woman named Toula battling her ethnic traditions to get a higher education
and marry a man outside her family's culture. This movie uses a comical approach to present these
common barriers of society.
The main character, named Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos at age 30 is going through an early midlife
crisis. At her age, having had her life plagued by bad luck, she feels that she has failed in fulfilling
the typical Greek tradition for women. Her family expects her to be more like her older sister
Athena and marry a Greek boy, have babies, and "feed everyone until the day she dies. She fears
that she is doomed to an uneventful life. One day while working at the family business, she meets
Ian Miller a caucasian school teacher. With help from her mother who persuades her father, Gus to
permit Toula to begin taking computer classes at a local community college. Toula then gets a
makeover ditching the "old" look her father constantly belittled her of having. She builds confidence,
mood and self–esteem to seek work outside the family restaurant.
Toula's makeover catches the eye of Ian andfall in love and begin to date....show more content...
Such contrast of cultures is obvious when making comparisons between the Portokalos and the
Millers. When the Portokalos invite the entire family to what was meant to be a quiet dinner with
Ian's parents, the Millers and are completely overwhelmed because they are not used to such cultural
fervor, a situation that was made worse by the accidental consumption of liquor making the Millers
seem disengaged and dry "like a piece of toast". The threats to family unity in such cases might
present themselves as distrust, superiority complex, fear, misinterpretation, language barriers and
disagreements in family roles to name a

2.2 My Big Fat Wedding (2002)
This movie tells about a 30–year–old Greek woman who had not married yet fell in love with a Turk
man. The Greek woman was Tortula Portokalos and the Turk man was Ian Miller. Tortula's father,
Mr. Portokalos, was 'very Greek' who was very assertive in maintaning Greek cultures, one of them
was a culture that a Greek has to marry a Greek. That was why Tortula and Ian dated secretly until
one day their relationship was known by Tortula's relative. Their relationship were not approved by
his father as Ian was not a Greek. In short, Tortula's father accept Ian as his daughter's husband after
Ian commited a Greek Orthodox baptism.
Cross cultural understanding in this movie is the different cultures of Greek and Turk. There is also
stereotype that is presented in funny way in this movie. It is when Mr....show more content...
We can also take precious lesson related to cross cultural understanding about the effect that it makes
from these movies.
Cross cultural understanding which is available in Higher Learning movie are stereotypes, racism,
and different attitudes and behaviors. It has bad effect to the characters in this movie, but it gives a
higher learning like the movie's title. Cross cultural understanding which is available in My Big Fat
Greek Wedding movie is different cultures. This movie gives a happy ending that shows different
cultures can make a better life.
Different cultures may complicate us, but if we take a good way, we can make it beautiful. On the
contrary, if we cannot take the positive of the cultural differences, we may become regretful about
what will happen next. The unity of diversity is very important. One of the best ways to face a
diversity is to learn about it by learning cross cultural understanding as

I do believe that the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding does relate to our course content. In this
film, Ian Miller, one of the main characters, has a tough time making an effort with the barrier
between his girlfriend's Greek culture and his American culture. Ian's girlfriend, Toula comes from a
large family who is extremely tied to their Greek culture; has a strong pride to their culture. In the
beginning, Toula seems to be indecisive about dating a guy who is not Greek. She second–guesses
herself about dating Ian because of the cultural values and beliefs her family has introduced to her.
Toula was always told from her family that the Greeks' ideal culture is to marry someone who is
Greek and have Greek babies. It seems to be that Toula

Cultural Issues in My Big Fat Greek Wedding
I choose My Big Fat Greek Wedding because it is one of my favorite movies and I believe I can
relate somehow to this movie since I come from a minority background. Even though the movie was
done with some extra humor and exaggerating some aspects of both cultures, the movie has a lot of
truth with what America experiences in the present time because in a multiracial country you
constantly have to experience the difference each cultures lives and expresses their beliefs. This
movie describes perfectly how shocking it could be from one culture to interact with the other
without leaving their ideologies and their prejudice of the other culture. This romantic comedy is
about a single Greek descendant woman. Her name is Toula Portokalos, and she grew up in a very
traditional family; constantly Toula was confronted by her values, beliefs, self esteem, group of
influence, social relations, and often was trying to find her cultural identity and deals with the stress
and demands her family has placed upon her that. Toula falls in love with a Caucasian American
man named Ian Miller. He comes from a small family with personalities and culture that are
extremely opposites from the Portokalos family. And from these two characters the movie develops
into a...show more content...
In one of the scenes of the movie (My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2002) Toula says to Ian: "This is
not going to work out..." (Because she was extremely afraid of confronting her authorities) then Ian
responds: "workout what? We are not a different species" (2002) Ian was willing to explore the
Greek background and perhaps be part of it. The situation here is the respect and obedience Toula
had for her culture and what she had been instructed to follow no matter the

The movie which we saw have title My Big Greek Weeding for me this was a great movie, there it
was all about the Greek sub–culture and all of Greek people who live in abroad. This story was in
U.S.A the movie explorers,and many sociological point and many problems as well.This movie is
interesting because to me also show the values of immigrants and how immigrants live in foreign
country , and how they keep culture and habits. The movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding is about a
30–year old and single woman named Toula who has lived a very Greek life style but she fall in
love to non Greek man and this was the problem for her family because when she was young she
kept every Greek rules. Toula went to Greek school when other American children went...show more
content...
Throughout the movie, Toula overcomes inner struggles to find her own identity, and she
overcomes fight with her family because value of the older generation Greek is : if broken some
rules is it mean or looked at as a taboo. This taboo sometimes is regarded as a very serious matter
but it important to the discretion of every Greek family and traditional as well. When Toula was
30 years old she would like to start study at Collage but her father did not agree with her decision
because he was strong Greek person who believes in Greek rules and his opinion was Toula
should not go to school because girls do not need to, and that she is fine doing what she is doing,
working at the family restaurant but Toulas mother had absolutely different view. Toulas mother
told toula should go to school if she that wants. Her father at the end agree with Toulas decision.
When Toula started go to college she made perfect hair,painted her face and throw away her
glasses and then she was working in travel agency.When she was working how waitress she met Ian
but he did not show positive emotions to her after that when Toula changed her life style Ian became
interested for it.He every day went to her agency and he looking after

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
After 14 years, the sequel to the romantic comedy 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' is back at the
Box–Office.
The sequel of this Canadian–American romantic comedy hit, 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2' is
better and a bigger treat for fans.
Alongside some jokes, fans will enjoy quick punches about marriages becoming stale and
lonely–nest syndrome along with a lot more. "Toula" Portokalos, the protagonist steals the centre
space once again. She is still married to her non–Greek partner and is now a wretched mother of a
teenage 16–year old girl, of whom she is afraid to lose in the dark world.
Paris (Elena Kampouris) is in sync with the character of a daughter, who just wants a single chance
to isolate herself from her big Greek family and her mother.

"My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is a charming romantic comedy that explores cultural differences in a
combination of adorable romance and cute humor. The story revolves around Toula, a
thirty–year–old Greek American single woman, who lives with her family in the suburb of Chicago.
Like many obedient Greek daughters, she works in her family's business, a restaurant called
"Dancing Zorba's." Toula belongs to a traditional collective upbringing where all good daughters are
expected to marry from their ethnic background. However, she struggles with her father's limited
ambitions for her and she longs for something else in life. She enrolls in college and takes computer
classes. With the computer diploma under her belt, a rebellious Toula emerges....show more content...
Similarly, when Toula asks her dad in a powerless language if she can attend college, her father's
statement, "Why are you leaving me?" not only implies his refusal, but also infers that Toula is
negligent in her collective duty towards her family. The implying and insinuating tendency of Toula's
family not only causes friction within her family but also creates communication problems with the
low context–oriented Miller family. While Ian and his family are the epitome of the individualistic
American society, Toula and her family are the stereotypical personification of the collective warm
immigrant minority. Ian's parents outrageously depict the stereotypical notion of the reserved, cold
and distant individualistic "WASP" character. The viewer can feel their discomfort at the dinner
party when both families are introduced. While the Greek clan is hospitable, loud, warm and
affectionate, the Miller family is quiet, reserved and uneasy. The scene where Harriet, Ian's mother,
avoids a hug from Toula's mother by placing a dessert cake cooked in a Bundt pan between the two
of them shades an unquestionable light on the perhaps stereotypical notion that all white people are
unaffectionate and overly guarded toward strangers. By putting a physical barrier between her and
Maria, Harriet is sending a clear message that her white individual space is precious to her and that
she will not succumb to the imposing Greek way of

The film My Big Fat Greek Wedding takes place in a Chicago Greek Community background
where Toula Portokalosa and her family live comfortably. Toula's father, Gus, is only interested in
regards to seeing his daughter get engaged to a man with Greek background (Hanks & Zwick,
2002). On the other hand, Toula, who is 30 years old, is increasingly becoming concerned about her
age and thinks that she may be time barred as far as getting a marriage partner is concerned. For this
reason, she is willing and ready to be married to anyone regardless of his race, religion, or ethnicity.
The importance of this setting is that it shows the cultural challenges that especially the immigrant
families in America experience. While the parents may retain their cultural values when they migrate
to America, children are born and bred in America and so for the children, the Americanculture is
what they may know. Due to the differences between children and their parents, conflicts of values
often arise.
The problem
After Toula convinces her father Gus and brother Nick to go to college, she starts to work in her
aunt 's travel agency. While working for the agency, she ends up meeting Ian, who is a teacher,
and they fall in love (Hanks & Zwick, 2002). Ian goes faster and makes a marriage proposal to
which Toula readily accepts. However, the problem comes in because Ian is a non–Greek person and
Toula's father does not want any boy outside the Greek community to marry his daughter. Put
differently,

My Big Fat Greek Wedding Essay

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My Big Fat Greek Wedding Essay