Analysis of My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Analysis of My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Weddings between people from different countries are common in our world, but weddings like these create more troubles because the culture backgrounds of bridegroom and bride could be a lot of different.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding was about a marriage between Toula from Greek and Ian from a traditional American family. Interactions in the movies showed that concepts of conflict and politeness theory, which could be pointed out in a few specific scenes. For example, after Toula and Ian secretly dating for a while, Toula's father feft so unhappy when Toula officially introduced Ian to her father. The reason was that her father was livid over her dating a non-Greek. However, her father finally accepted Ian because he loved Toula and wanted her to be happy. Thus, because of the culture different, Toula and Ian had to adjust to each other. While Ian had to let go of his white individualistic upbringing and learned to accept Toula's collective big family and Greek traditions, Toula had to come to terms with her own identity. Fortunately, at the end of the movie, Ian was eventually accepted into Toula's family by agreeing to marry in the Greek Orthodox Church and participate in the Greek culture. Despite the happy ending of the movie, Toula struggled to follow the rules and values of her culture, practiced nonverbal communication with Ian since Ian had a language barrier of English and Greek.

In addition, there are some misunderstandings that arise due to the differences in culture in their families. For instance, Ian went to Toula's house one day and sat at the table while Toula's family was having a breakfast. Toula's mom asked Ian if he wanted any food, and Ian said no because he was not hungry. However, Toula's mom did not think Ian was actually full and insisted to give him some food. This is an example of misunderstanding. In American culture, yes is yes, and no is no; they do not have to say the opposite to please anyone when they do not want the things. Therefore, American culture is considered low-context culture.

Another scene that displays culture difference is where Toula's family was having a party. It was the first time Ian's family came and met the family. Ian's parents seemed to be traditional white. When they were walking up to the house, there were about more than twenty people of Toula's family outside partying. I can tell that Ian's parents definitely felt awkward and strange by their facial expression, which is because American is individualism, while Greek is collectivism. After, Ian's mom handed a bundt cake which Toula's parents had never seen one before, and they were still confused about the pronunciation of the cake after many times practicing. Later in the party, Toula's parents took out the cake with some flowers in it, which made Ian's parents