My Big Fat Greek Wedding - 1512 Words

â€Å"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 â€Å"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, â€Å"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 â€Å"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 unquesti onable 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 ofShow MoreRelatedMy Big Fat Greek Wedding1493 Words   |  6 PagesINTRODUCTION My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) is a Canadian-American film that tells the story of Greek-American, Toula (Fotoula) Portokalos. At thirty, Toula is still waitressing for her family’s restaurant, Dancing Zorbas. Constantly under pressure from her traditional, Greek parents to marry a Greek man and start a family, Toula seeks some distance from the family business. Toula starts attending college classes and eventually begins a new job at her Aunt Voula’s travel agency. After a short periodRead MoreMy Big Fat Greek Wedding1701 Words   |  7 Pagesallowed 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 pointedRead MoreMy Big Fat Greek Wedding1830 Words   |  8 PagesIn 2003, My Big Fat Greek Wedding made audiences laugh across the country. It is a movie about family, a large Greek family to be specific. This is important to the story, because it shows how their traditions cause their daughter Toula to look, and feel like a failure. Toula finds herself alone at age thirty working for her parents in their restaurant, she is as unhappy as that statement sounds. Being disappointed with her heritage pushes a wedge between her and her family, but especially her fatherRead MoreMy Big Fat Greek Wedding963 Words   |  4 PagesThe 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 othe r 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 willingRead MoreMovie Reflection-My Big Fat Greek Wedding1401 Words   |  6 PagesIn the 2002 movie release of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the writer Nia Vardalos, director Joel Zwick and producer Tom Hanks, tell the story of a real life scenario that is increasing in our ever diverse world. Vardalos, basing the movie on her real life marriage, gives the audience an inside view as to what goes on inside an interfaith marriage and how to make it work. Yet in todays society, the typical view of a marriage is seen as either a fairy tale or ball and chain. However, after watching thisRead MoreEssay on Analysis of My Big Fat Greek Wedding1253 Words   |  6 PagesDuring the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, there was a lot of positive and negative communication that influenced the main charac ter’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 toRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1543 Words   |  7 PagesCross-cultural communication, a big part of most families around the world, and a big aspect of how people’s lives are being lived out according to their cultural beliefs. In the movie, â€Å"My Big Fat Greek Wedding†, Toula, the daughter of Gus, the owner of the restaurant called Dancing Zorbas helps run the family restaurant due to their family’s cultural beliefs. Ever since her encounter with Ian, Toula decided to break from the cultural myopia within the family. With the help of her Mother’ s helpRead MoreEssay on Fools Rush In and My Big Fat Greek Wedding968 Words   |  4 PagesFools Rush In and My Big Fat Greek Wedding Every movie that is written has a certain attitude to it. Some of these are intended to be laughed at and others are meant to be heartfelt. Though each movie is written with its own voice, so to speak, many have similar plots or themes. The two movies Fools Rush In and My Big Fat Greek Wedding are two of these movies that have similarities in the themes, but not necessarily in the plots. Both of these romantic comedies have strong religious backgroundsRead MoreMy Big Fat Greek Wedding - Individualistic vs Collectivistic Culture672 Words   |  3 PagesIn 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 wal king up to the house, and there have to be at least 30 people outside partying, it is anRead More Interpersonal Communication Styles Examined in My Big Fat Greek Wedding1690 Words   |  7 Pagesallowed 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