My Big Fat Greek Wedding Analysis

There has been much study into how culture can impact the quality of health care, but not enough education on what can specifically be changed or how to change it. In The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down, a comprehensive example is presented using the implications of culture on the healthcare of a little girl named Lia Lee. Through evaluation, I have identified five major areas and examples of each that exemplify the clash of cultures presented in this book: Environmental Controls, Social Organization, Communication, Space, and

Discriminatory practice in health and social care happens for many reasons including some important factors that are normally the cause of discriminatory practice for example a person may be discriminated against because on the basis of their diversity. One important discriminatory practice is because of culture. A person’s Culture is important to them and identifies who they are in the world. It is developed within the social group they are raised in, and can change when they are mature enough to decide for their selves what culture best suit them. In addition respecting a person’s culture is

The health disparities among the elderly Asian Americans faces with numerous illnesses and diseases, including access to care, quality of care, and challenges managing chronic illnesses. The health disparities involving the physical health concerns are cancer which is a leading cause of mortality. Heart disease included coronary artery and valve disease, the number cause of death among men and women in the United States and a major contributor to disability among older adults. Hypertension a chronic disorders especially in elderly Asian American, and including diabetes mellitus a chronic disease suffered by more than a quarter of the U.S. population older than age 65. Although, diabetes mellitus correlated by racial-ethnic demographic factors including socioeconomic and cultural factors, poverty, and

Her father was telling her he wanted her to get married soon because she “looked old.” Toula stops paying attention when she sees a handsome man. She walks

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” stars Nia Vardalos as Toula Portokalos, a 30-year-old daughter in a Greek family living in a city. The movie opens with Toula’s father, Gus Portokalos (Michael Constantine), picking her up in a rain storm and telling her she needs to get married because she is getting old. Toula then recounts her childhood, telling of the difficulties involved with growing up in a Greek family. Toula’s life has been less than stellar to this point, but that all changes when Ian Miller (John Corbett), a teacher at a local school, walks into her parent’s restaurant. It is love at first sight for Toula, but she is too awkward and nervous to converse with the handsome stranger. He leaves.

As a typical intercultural movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is about Toula, a lower middle class Greek American woman who fell in love with a non-Greek upper middle class “white Anglo-Saxon Protestant” Ian Miller. They overcame a series of difficulties and eventually held a big fat Greek wedding. This movie shows us how Greek Americans live, reflecting the conflicts between Greek culture and American culture in a humorous way. Guided by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, this paper mainly explores how Greeks and American handle the cultural conflicts, and how they integrate into each other’s culture. Therefore, we will arrange the paper in three

Healthy People 2020 discusses a number of special population’s that have barriers to care including; race, age sex, sexual identity, age, disability, socioeconomic, and location; this post will discuss race (ethnic) group.  There are a number of races mentioned in healthy people 2020, such as, Asian, American Indian, Alaskan, Latino and African American (Healthy People 2020, n.d.). Access to health care in an ethnic group is multifaceted from the lack of trust, lack of health care education, discrimination and cost of care including health insurance. According to Howard, Peace, & Howard (2014), African Americans have a greater risk of three preventable diseases, hypertension, renal failure and bacterial infections stating; “no other disease

Toula's dad still was not cheerful, and was annoyed with his family to accept them. He felt double-crossed, dismisses and did not need his little girl to wed this man. Toula goes to see Ian and says she simply needs to go and get hitched and all she needs is for her family to like him. He answers by disclosing to her he would do whatever it takes to be enjoyed by them.

The case study of Lia Lee is interesting and serves as a cautionary tale as it explores the consequences of cultural misunderstanding. In this case both the parents and medical staff sought the same thing; they both wanted Lia to have a positive outcome. Unfortunately, both groups had distinct ideas regarding how to achieve the common objective. This division was rooted in each sides individual cultural beliefs.

Health care providers should remain aware of the importance of personal dignity in the health care industry. This is especially true when caring for individuals with cultural differences.

“It felt as if there was this layer of Saran Wrap or something between us….So we couldn’t really accomplish what we were trying to do, which was to take care of Lia” (47-48). The cultural barrier between Lia Lee’s parents and the medical staff at Merced Community Medical Center (MCMC) was recognized equally by both parties throughout the many interactions they had. From Lia’s birth to her final release from MCMC a recurring theme has been reproduction, specifically its difference between Hmong and American traditions. The several occurrences between pregnant Hmong women and the medical staff at MCMC are demonstrative of the language and custom barriers between the two cultural groups. Standards of parental care are also different within the two cultures and both Hmong and American standards affected Lia’s health. Emotions and understandings towards children born or obtaining disability had both parties treat Lia differently throughout her varying stages of being medically treated. The different cultures pertaining specifically to reproduction are main factors that shaped Lia’s overall medical treatment through miscommunication, varying standards of parenthood, and viewpoints towards disability.

Cultural diversity in the medical field is, at times, greatly hindered because of religious beliefs, language barriers, and the hierarchies of diverse cultures and these have the propensity to affect the continuity of care for the patients. “Every person has different aspects that constitute their identities, according to how they see themselves….This means that seeing an individual in terms of

One issue with underserved populations is an increase in health disparities, not only race and ethnicity, but also gender and age. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (2014) list a number of key findings from a report on underserved populations and health care. Mortality rates from certain diseases and different types of death were higher in different racial groups than Caucasians (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Morbidity of asthma, oral disease, tuberculosis, obesity, and diabetes were also higher in minority groups (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Preventive screening for the over-50 population was just over 60%

At the beginning of the film, Toula always told herself that nothing ever changes and that she wishes she could meet someone special and to be happy about life. Her father named Gus always told her that she needed to group up and marry a Greek man and make Greek

For my next film assignment, I picked the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. The main plot involves a 30 year old woman named Toula battling her ethnic traditions to get a higher education and marry a man outside her family’s culture. This movie uses a comical approach to present these common barriers of society. The main character, named Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos at age 30 is going through an early midlife crisis.