preview

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Better Essays

In 2003, My Big Fat Greek Wedding made audiences laugh across the country. It is a movie about family, a large Greek family to be specific. This is important to the story, because it shows how their traditions cause their daughter Toula to look, and feel like a failure. Toula finds herself alone at age thirty working for her parents in their restaurant, she is as unhappy as that statement sounds. Being disappointed with her heritage pushes a wedge between her and her family, but especially her father. She starts plotting a way to make it to college, so her father will think it is his idea so he is not reluctant. She makes her plan sound like it will benefit the whole family, and the restaurant. After taking courses, Toula starts to change …show more content…

Every culture has its own traditions that members try to uphold. In this movie, one tradition that is apparent and is gone back to many times, is the tradition of marrying a Greek man when you are a Greek woman. What some may question, is why does Toula’s father feel like his daughter cannot make her own decision of who she loves? He goes to great lengths to find Greek men for her, and each of them are below the standard she holds for herself. Gus even knows that the men he has chosen are not good enough for Toula. The uncertainty that he expresses when communicating with Ian, but also allowing him to be apart of his tight knit family. Gus views his family as his number one priority, and does not like to upset the balance. Toula’s mother, Maria senses how Gus feels about allowing Ian to be apart of the family, but she puts her uncertainty aside so her daughter can feel the love she has been longing for, for many years. Viewers can see that because she is the last daughter of the family to marry, he also wants to make sure that Ian will be the man she needs him to be. After Gus realizes that Toula has her mind made up, he comes to grips with the fact that Ian is going to be in his life for a long time. Around the time of the wedding, Toula is worried that the stress of marrying outside of her culture is physically ailing her father. What her marriage is going to bring is something that the Portokalos family is not ready for because it is foreign to them. When

Get Access