· My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a movie about a Greek woman named Toula Portokalos. Toula is a year old woman who is struggling to find love and meaning in her life. She is in what some might call, "a midlife crisis." Greek Culture is extremely specific and family is everything to them. The /5(11) · 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 INTRODUCTION My Big Fat Greek Wedding () 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
How My Big Fat Greek Wedding Free Essay Example
For example, family, my big fat greek wedding essay, friends, teachers, and strangers may influence a person. The person influencing the behavior may be physically present, but it is not necessary.
In short, social situations play a big role in shaping people and how they develop. Social influence provides a way for people to influence the behavior of other people; social influence occurs because of the manner in which the changed person perceives his relationship with the person exerting the influence. My Big Fat Greek Wedding demonstrated the power of social influence.
Unlike all of her cousins who got married to Greeks and started their own families, Toula is an unmarried year-old; she is a nice Greek girl, but she is considered a failure in her culture. Everybody is concerned about Toula and her future. Toula certainly breaks tradition by doing this; she dares to venture where none of the other Portokalos women have gone. In her family, women do not go to college. Because of her fear, Toula did not want to let her father know about her educational goals and dreams.
Toula saw her college degree as the first step in her personal journey. With a degree, she would be able to find a good job; this would ultimately lead to her independence. His vision for Toula was different; he wanted her to be the perfect wife for her future husband. This idea of social influence also illustrates the gender inequality that Greek women experience, my big fat greek wedding essay.
Greek women do not enjoy the opportunity to climb the social ladder; instead, they are expected to be housewives. Portokalos personified the idea that control was left to the man of the house. In exerting his influence, he attempted to impose norms on Toula. Eventually, Toula succeeds in convincing her aunt to give her a job. While working for her aunt, Toula meets Ian Miller; while she finds Ian very attractive, he is not Greek.
As they begin to date, it quickly becomes apparent that they have a major culture clash. Ian is the all-American boy from next door, and he is not at all familiar with the Greek culture my big fat greek wedding essay the social influences that the entire family has over Toula. While Toula knows what is in store for Ian, he has no idea about the doubt my big fat greek wedding essay outrage that he will have to endure before he can ever be accepted by her family.
Since she was a young girl, Toula felt the social influences imposed by her extended family. From the time she was a young girl at school, Toula demonstrates that she is not happy about all of the Greek traditions and influences. Her Greek family members are not influenced by the American way of life; they totally reject it in favor of their Greek culture. However, Toula is torn; we watch her struggle because she does not want to be different the other kids with whom she has grown up.
Instead, Toula prefers to be a part of the dominant American culture. As a young girl, Toula understood social influences and their impact on gender roles in the Greek culture. As a woman, my big fat greek wedding essay, she would be expected to say home; it would be her duty to cook and clean while taking care of the children.
Furthermore, she would be expected to marry a Greek man. As her husband, he would be in charge of his household; he would have the control within the family. He would be expected to be the breadwinner; he would be expected to protect his family. Because she had grown up in America, my big fat greek wedding essay, Toula had other ideas. She had experienced social influences from people other than her Greek family; she had a lot of social influence from the American children with whom she went to school.
As a result of the combined social influences she had experienced, Toula knew she wanted something different for her future. As Toula begins to date Ian, we see the differences in how social my big fat greek wedding essay have impacted the two of them and their lives. With Toula, we witness the closeness and bonds in her extended family; the family becomes a community of its own. Through the power of social influence, Toula recognizes the traditional Greek values.
She knows that her dad expects her to be like her cousins; she needs to marry a nice Greek boy and start having children. For the older generations, the social influence was so strong that they just did it without ever thinking about it. As Toula and Ian continue to date, we see many other examples of social influence.
For example, Toula had not told her parents about Ian; she had been afraid to tell them. Her parents only learned about her boyfriend when one of their friends told them that they had seen Toula kissing a man in a public place.
While Toula maintains her love for Ian, Mr. and Mrs. Portokalos devise a plan; they continue to introduce Toula to eligible Greek men, but the plan does not work. Eventually, Ian proposes to Toula, and they get engaged. At one point, Toula proposed that they elope; however, Ian refused to entertain the idea.
Toula knew that she was not allowed to marry Ian in the Greek Orthodox Church; in order for them to be married there, Ian would have to my big fat greek wedding essay to Greek Orthodox.
Later, viewers witness Ian being baptized; through the ceremony, he was spiritually cleansed. Thus, he was able to be recognized as a part of the Greek culture. When Ian converted and became a part of the Greek culture, Mr. Portokalos appreciate his efforts, and they finally welcomed him into their family. While Toula worried what Ian might think my big fat greek wedding essay her family, she clearly loved them, and Ian loved her. With the conversion ceremony behind them, they moved forward with their wedding plans.
As they prepared for the big day, Toula worried about all of her female family members. Toula was not totally surprised when she learned that Nikki, her cousin, took it upon herself to choose the dresses of my big fat greek wedding essay bridesmaids without consulting Toula; again, this is another demonstration of social influences at work in her Greek culture.
Because they know that Ian is trying to fit into the family and adopt Greek customs, her cousins play games and get Ian to say tasteless things in Greek.
Ian is not Greek, but he has come to the realization of the importance of the role of the extended family; therefore, he willingly participates and repeats whatever the cousins tell him without giving it any thought.
He has come recognized the importance of social influences within the large family, and he makes his best effort to become one of them. Knowing that Mr. Miller are very quiet and reserved, Toula invites them to dinner.
Recognizing the power of social influences and knowing the differences between the two families, Toula is adamant that the dinner will only include Ian, his parents, her parents and her.
The social influences that impact the Millers are totally different; thus, she knows that six people at the dinner table will be more than enough for Mr. Miller; she worries that her extended family will be too much for them to handle. She also wants a small and simple dinner. Toula thinks the plans are all in place, and she believes that they have agreed to the dinner as she planned it. With no understanding of Greek culture, Mr. Miller are quite surprised with the events of the evening.
When the Mr. Miller spend the evening with the Portokalos family, my big fat greek wedding essay see more social influences at work in the movie. Clearly, the Portokalos family is a collective unit; meanwhile, the Miller family would be viewed as individualistic. In the Portokalos family, individuals do not just make decisions or take actions on their own; they cherish their roles as members of the family.
When there is a decision to be made, the entire family participates; everybody has a chance to offer their opinions, even when nobody asks for them. They were a very close family, and they all genuinely care about one another; their actions are based in care and love. As illustrated in the movie, Toula and Ian had hoped to make their wedding plans as a couple; however, that did not come to fruition.
Instead, we saw that the entire Portokalos family participated in the wedding plans. They were eventually forced to sit back and allow the participation while hoping for the best.
On the other hand, my big fat greek wedding essay, the Millers are portrayed in a different light. As the movie showed, the Miller family only included Ian and his parents; there was not an extended family participating and making decisions for one another. When you meet the Greek family, you are meeting a very large group; you would not ever expect to meet just two people when the word family is used. Specifically, Ian serves as a great example to show the power of social influences.
During the time that he has dated Toula, he has grown more familiar and has become more acclimated to the Greek way of life. For instance, we see him trying to speak Greek words. We see him learning to dance in the same fashion that they do. We see him trying to use Greek expressions.
He has started engaging in Greek traditions. We also saw how he changed religions for Toula because it was so important to her family. He also made sure that they had a big wedding out of respect to her family even when she wanted to elope. Social influences were constantly at work. Toula and Ian came from two different worlds. This movie was a great example to illustrate differences in expectations and perspectives.
Clearly, Toula and Ian were constantly impacted by the social influences?? As Toula demonstrated repeatedly, those social my big fat greek wedding essay can play a great role without even being physically present. With his ever-present authoritarian personality, Mr. Portokalos often influenced Toula without being with her. However, there are times when people will act on their own accord and ignore social influences; we saw Toula do this when she started dating Ian.
Despite the social influences of generations, we saw how much love that Mr. Portokalos had for Toula, and they wanted to see her happy.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding - Now You Are Family
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· My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a movie about a Greek woman named Toula Portokalos. Toula is a year old woman who is struggling to find love and meaning in her life. She is in what some might call, "a midlife crisis." Greek Culture is extremely specific and family is everything to them. The /5(11) · 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 INTRODUCTION My Big Fat Greek Wedding () 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
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