Big fat greek wedding essay
My Big Fat Cross-Cultural Encounters Essay When you come from a different culture, especially when you are so attached to that culture, like in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, it becomes very difficult to have to go against your usual cultural ways. Trying to please your parents and yourself can even become a challenge, when the two of you want alternative things, and have such contrasting point of views. When it comes to flowing in with mainstream society while being raised a certain way, life becomes a lot more
complicated. In life you are almost always presented with two different ways of doing things, and at the end of the day it’s your decision what you want to go with. In My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Toula knew she could get a degree and actually do something with her life, being that she was interested in computers. Unlike the traditional Greek wives, who stay at home and do work in the kitchen, she actually wanted to make something of her life. As soon as Toula considered of taking up such a profession, she immediately thought of what her parents ...
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complicated. In life you are almost always presented with two different ways of doing things, and at the end of the day it’s your decision what you want to go with. In My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Toula knew she could get a degree and actually do something with her life, being that she was interested in computers. Unlike the traditional Greek wives, who stay at home and do work in the kitchen, she actually wanted to make something of her life. As soon as Toula considered of taking up such a profession, she immediately thought of what her parents would think. Basically, the same thing happened in the case of Toula’s brother, Nick, wanted to go to art school, yet it was not an ideal Greek male job. Another huge thing that comes across is when you are trying to please both yourself and your parents. The way Toula basically chose to present herself, was somewhat modern, but still showed she valued Greek traditions. When Toula had met Ian, she knew she was in love, but still apprehensive about introducing a Non-Greek into the family. Even when she just heard her father having second thoughts about the marriage, Toula immediately began having doubts herself. Again, with Nick, he would never over show his true passion for art, worrying so much of pleasing his parents. Finally, fitting in with mainstream society can be a huge problem. Meeting up with a socially-normal family, being Ian’s, you could then see how different these two families were. Toula’s parents felt that Ian’s parents saw them as some sort of aliens, and from the perspective of watching the movie, they’re most likely correct. A language barrier is also presented when two separate families collide. For example, Toula’s mother took quite a while to understand the word “bunt”, which really seemed to frustrate Ian’s mother whilst she was constantly repeating the word. In Conclusion, when Toula was presented with two different cultures, and ways of life, the three issues that mainly came up would be; going against her parents beliefs, trying to please herself without disappointing anyone; and finally getting with modern society. These issues, come up in day-to-day life with multiple families, and were discussed deeply in the movie itself. At the end of the day, everything seemed to work out in the movie, as it usually will with life.
