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My Big Fat Greek Weddingmight technically be a romanticist comedy , but the 2002 film is just as much an extremely loving and accurate sociological delineation of the daily animation of Greek - Americans . The celluloid locomote to great lengths to comprise many of the dwell experiences of Greek - Americans , from the rite of societal gatherings to the fight that arise between extended household fellow member .
Throughout , even when it satirise some of these elements and peril turning some fictional character into stereotypes , My Big Fat Greek Weddinganalyzes the Greek - American culture through a completely loving crystalline lens . There is no harsh critique to be found in this film , but rather a warm and inviting depiction of , as Toula call it,“the account of our people , the keen culture : the Greeks . "
Greek School As A Rite Of Passage
Learning language is a major part of most American children ’s school experience , whether it means learning the usual Spanish or French , or the less conventional Latin . But for Greek - American nestling , there is another crucial element of their language learning in their young years : Greek school , usually hosted at the Greek Orthodox church their family attends .
My Big Fat Greek Weddingbriefly incorporate this via a spry flashback sequence that embodies the experience . Toula narrates this glimpse of her puerility : " While the pretty girls got to go to Brownies , I had to go to Grecian school . At Greek schooling , I learned valuable lessons like , ' If Nick has one goat , and Maria has nine , how soon will they marry ? ' "
Big Family Dinners
The family dinner is a major component of many family relationship , whether in substantial life history or in film and television . situation comedy and family dramas would barely exist without fraught and contentious conversation view as around the dinner party tabular array . ButMy Big Fat Greek Weddingshows that , while Greeks do have their version of the family dinner , it happens on a much bad ordered series than most .
When Toula invites Ian ’s parents to " get in touch with the mob , " she naively expects that to mean consume dinner party with her parent , and possibly her brother Nick . Instead , Maria and Gus invite every unmarried buddy , baby , cousin , niece , nephew , uncle , aunty , and so on , resulting in a full - blown Grecian fete aright in their front yard , complete with a Charles Lamb roasting on a spit . Many Hellenic family solemnisation take on this scale all too easily .
The Immigrant Experience Vs. The First Generation
Stories that cover the intergenerational tensions in the relationships between parents and children have become increasingly common in recent years . Likewise , the complex human relationship betweenan immigrant parent and a first - generation childcontinues to be mined for television and film content with great success , regardless of the country of origin .
My Big Fat Greek Weddingwas ahead of the trend when it was released in 2002 and extend the complex father - daughter human relationship between Gus and Toula . The struggle between an immigrant parent ’s vision for their child ’s future and the first contemporaries child ’s rebellion against the limitations their parent places on them is something that Greek - Americans , among many other civilisation , postulate with to this day .
Living With Your Parents Until You Get Married
Manycoming - of - age moviesprominently sport a main character ’s desire to move out of their family home as soon as they turn 18 . Some of them even have their parents eager to recoil them out of the house once the clock strikes midnight on their 18th birthday . In Greek - American culture , this is all but unheard of .
In the Greek world , it is not just common , but almost even completely anticipate for an adult to live in their class home with their parents ( and their extended family , such as Toula ’s nanna Yiayia ) until they get married . Even further , once the now - grownup children do get married , they do n’t move very far away - such as when Toula and Ian move just next door .
Spitting, Pinching, And Kissing
Every culture has its singular social ritual . Many cultures have ritual that go a little bit too far in term of respecting someone ’s boundaries , particularly when they have only just met in the first place . My Big Fat Greek Weddingillustrates many of these boundary - pushing rituals in expectant detail .
adult oft spew throughout the film to keep bad sentiment and jealousies from being directed at those they bonk . When the extended family ultimately meets Ian , he is beset by a sea of Greeks who desire to pinch his cheeks and kiss him , either on the face or on the lips , one by one . Any Greek - American reading this most probable just winced as years of pinched cheeks suddenly returned to their mind in bright particular .
The Family Restaurant
Family restaurants are the main theme in chronicle from many cultures , such as Italian and Formosan . Many category in reality do have at least one congeneric who runs their restaurant , which becomes a amass place for not just the category itself , but the community at large .
This is particularly true for Greek - Americans , a fact that has been featured in popular culture from theOlympia Cafe onSaturday Night LivetoFrasier . Of of course , My Big Fat Greek Weddingprominently boast the Portokalos family restaurant , named Dancing Zorba ’s , which serve as a placed piece for key moments of category struggle , romantic interest , and community - wide celebration .
The Louder, The Better
It ’s almost a stereotype on its own at this dot , to describe any peculiarly " ethnic " finish in motion picture and television as being loud just for the saki of being loud , such as in manyItalian - American movies . The contrast between Toula ’s meretricious and proud Greek phratry and Ian ’s very reserved WASP family speak for itself in this regard , in particular when the two families finally fill for the first time .
But whether they are interact with " outsiders " ( or , as Gus calls them , xeno ) , arguing amongst themselves , or taking part in folk celebration in restaurants or on the front lawn , the Greeks who populate the casting ofMy Big Fat Greek Weddinghave one intensity and one volume only : loud .
Everyone Is Related To Alexander The Great, Right?
While this storyline does n’t take place until the sequelMy Big Fat Greek wedding party 2 , it is still a uniquely Greek - American experience that can not be overlooked . In his elder years , Gus becomes positive of the fact that the Portokalos family line is a lineal descendant of Alexander the Great , the ancient Greek hoagy of Macedonian origin .
There is no way to testify that anyone is directly relate , given the thousands of days that have take place and conflicting report about the lineage Alexander left behind . But Toula nevertheless humors her male parent ’s beliefs and fabricates an descent test " prove " their genic tie to Alexander . Many Greeks who humor their own relatives ' condemnation in this belief can completely realize .
Food Is A Complex Love Language
As should be vindicated by now , food plays a major theatrical role not only inMy openhanded Fat Greek Weddingbut also in Greek and Greek - American culture as a whole . Families always eat together , and elder generations show their love for untested multiplication by cooking lavish meals and passing on their recipes from generation to generation .
Toula explains this well too soon in the film:“My mom was always cook foods filled with warmth and wisdom , and never forgetting that side stunner of steam hot guilt . “Family and food for thought go hand in helping hand , so it ’s only natural that the relationship between them is just as complex as the relationship between any home member .
Being Greek Is The Best Thing You Can Be
It ’s a running stem throughoutMy Big Fat Greek Wedding : there is nothing better a person can be than Greek . Gus say it himself:“Toula , there are two sort of the great unwashed : Greeks , and everybody else who wish they was Greek . "
Gus in picky ask pride in list out things that Greeks were the first culture to do , finding the Hellenic blood of any word , and cue anyone and everyone that they should be majestic of their Greek inheritance . Many real - lifespan Greeks , and Greek - Americans , often do just the same , no matter the surroundings they find themselves in . There is no goal to Hellenic pride , something the motion picture captures all too well .
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