My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

The Greek Wedding

  

   I’m still making the most of my break right now and I got insight on the loud and colorful culture of Greece as I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The plot is set in Chicago: Toula Portakalos (Nia Vardalos), a 30-year old Greek woman who feels like the disappointment of her family because she find anyone Greek to marry. She meets Ian Miller (John Corbett), who is not Greek. This poses as a problem since according to tradition Greeks only marry Greeks and have Greek babies. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a romance-comedy that can teach you a lot about family and the Greek etymology of words.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Watching this movie enlightened me to the traditions of a Greek family. What I found out is that the Greek tradition comes from a very proud race of people; because they are proud, they tend to be close-minded to anything new, are strict in their adherence to tradition and sexist towards their women. Anyhow, the loud, lovable and warm Greeks are family-oriented who make it their goal to increase their offspring to make more Greeks. Other than the cultural lesson, the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding shows that we are all parts of our families even if they do tend to be weird. We all may be different but in the end, as Gus Portakalos says: “We are all fruits”.

      It’s sweet that Ian Miller was willing to convert to her religion and tradition just to please her family. A lovable and sweet family with eccentric traditions that can be rare to find in today’s cold, modern and minimalist society -- a happy ending.