My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a romantic comedy about a 30-year-old single woman living in Chicago named Toula Portokalos. As a girl, raised by a very traditional Greek family, she faces many deep questions about her priorities in life. These questions range from the role of family in a contemporary society, to the pressures placed upon her by her family and their cultural norms. The Greeks in this movie are very ethnocentric, meaning they tend to evaluate other people and cultures according to the standards of their own culture. Everything through their eyes is classified as Greek and non-Greek. The Greek way of doing things is always better.
The movie begins at the Portokalos’ family restaurant, Dancing Zorba’s, where Toula is constantly reminded that her life clock is ticking. According to her family’s norms, women who are not married and work in the family business are considered a failure. Toula comes from a traditional upbringing. This means all of the daughters are expected to marry men from their ethnic background. According to Toula, “There are three things that every Greek woman must do in life: marry Greek boys, make Greek babies, and feed everyone.” This is a value that the older generations of Greeks cherish
The movie shows the key sociological concepts of accommodation because the film portrays the need to overcome ethnic differences while not diminishing the beauty of ethnic tradition. Ian shows acculturation by being baptized before the wedding to bring him into the church and allow for Ian and Toula to be married in the Church. It can be concluded that Ian’s decision to be baptized leads to showing key sociological concepts of assimilation because he will be with his wife every day and will see how it is be a part of a Greek Orthodox family. He may even begin to practice Greek traditions because of his wife’s
There has been many discussions about how people try to fit in society, whether it is for music, interests in subjects, or even trying to fit in a specific culture. Groups and individuals seems to have a distinction among each other when it comes down to fitting in society and how they differ and have tensions among each other to conform to social norms. In “Making Conversation” and “The Primacy of Practice” by Kwame Anthony Appiah discusses how all cultures have similarities and differences but sometimes those differences are so different that they can not connect to another nation. Manuel Munoz in “Leave Your Name at the Border” argues how immigrants in a city are forced to act more societal and how it typically affects the diversity in
To understand fully the implicit meaning and cultural challenges the film presents, a general knowledge of the film’s contents must be presented. The protagonist, Tita, suffers from typical Hispanic cultural oppression. The family rule, a common rule in this culture, was that the youngest daughter is to remain unwed for the duration of her mother’s life, and remain home to care for her. Mama Elena offers her daughter, Tita’s older sister Rosaura, to wed a man named Pedro, who is unknowingly in mutual love with Tita. Tita is forced to bake the cake for the wedding, which contains many tears that she cried during the process. Tita’s bitter tears cause all the wedding guests to become ill after consuming the cake, and Tita discovers she can influence others through her cooking. Throughout the film, Tita’s cooking plays an important role in all the events that transpire.
A town with a secret Goal of this essay will be to describe the meaning of the epilogue where Joanna has become another Stepford wife gliding through the local supermarket, having given up her career as a photographer, while Ruthanne, a new resident in Stepford, appears poised to become the conspiracy's next victim. This scene is highly pro-individual and symbolic of what we are now experiencing in western democracies - what with robotic call centre staff, girls who dress and look like fake barbie dolls with fake nails, hair extensions, cosmetic surgery, and businesses that are replacing people with machines to save costs. The Stepford Wives is a highly pro-individual movie that shows one of many problems of our society. The film was not perfectly, very pro-democratic and anti authoriarian, including that it is more than forty years old, but the subject is absolutely genius. The main idea of author was to make the viewers deeply question themselves: what do
While Toula kept her new boyfriend in secret from her family, the couple was soon exposed thanks to the tight connections within the Portokalos family. Gus was quick to once again comply with the interactionist perspective by first explaining to Toula the “rules” Ian was meant to follow in order to ask for permission to date his daughter. He later continues by inviting a preapproved suitor for his daughter who would help to continue and maintain their strong Greek culture. The climax of this conflict arises when Toula begins to feel the pressure from her father and tries to break it off with Ian. Luckily for Toula Ian was completely understanding of her family system; even when his own family was more “cookie cutter” in the way his family was smaller in size, they kept to immediate family, as well as weren’t as prideful of their heritage. The couple continues to date and Ian soon proposes to Toula. When she confronts her father with her news he begins to become outraged by the situation and the lack of respect coming from his daughter and her inability to uphold not only tradition but his own expectations of her. After Ian commits to converting into Toula’s Greek Orthodox faith as a way to make her father and family happy and more accepting, Toula proceeded to explain to her father that this is what she had been waiting for and was where she felt comfortable. Again we have some evidence of not only Toula but also her father complying with this idea of constructing a new reality to fit ones needs. Gus slowly begins to accept Ian thanks to his sacrifice and commitment not only to his daughter but the family’s traditions and culture as well. Eventually all turns out well for the Portokalos and Gus and Toula’s relationship becomes strong thanks to
The Wedding Singer was put on by the Ole Miss Theatre Department on November 11, 2016. It took place in Fulton Chapel on the Ole Miss campus and featured a very talented cast of Ole Miss students. Rene Pulliam was the director and Kate Prendergast was the choreographer for this musical. The play was dynamic and engaging. From the acting, to the set, to the energy of the cast, The Wedding Singer was a lively musical that left the viewer feeling excited and spirited.
Notwithstanding Brubaker (2001) argues that there are two basic meanings of assimilation, namely: the general and abstract sense and the specific and organic sense and both differ in their affective overtones, moral and political connotation, and intellectually respectability. The general and abstract sense, deals with the process of increasing similarity or becoming similar or likeness but not identical. It focusses on the process and not the final state — designates a direction of change, not a particular degree of similarity. While specific and organic sense, focuses on the final state and assimilation is a matter of either /or, not of degree. Assimilation in this sense implies complete absorption into the system or community (Brubaker, 2001).
Appropriation in itself is an attempt towards assimilation in which the superior culture picks and chooses aspects of the minority tradition, absorbs them into majority society in a new, inauthentic manner, and all the while completely disregarding the traditions they do not favor. While Fanon, says that the possibility for integration is what is needed in order to achieve equality in society, Baldwin’s theory on black acceptance into white society means that the success of integration is unlikely. With assimilation comes the risk of the minority culture losing itself completely to the dominant culture. The issue of integration is that neither white nor black society seeks to participate in a cultural exchange resulting in an equal intermingling
Individuals can create a sense of place where one feels comfortable perceiving at home within a wider society mainly influenced by accountable traits. The implemented contemporary challenges observe on what individual’s perception mainly influences the assimilation of such a foreign society in which enlightens the benefit on rewarding new acceptance and allegiance within a wider community not concerning of certain competition. Poems ‘St Patrick’s College’ and ‘Feliks Skrzynecki’ emphasize the emergence of identity separation and the lost aspirations of affirmed affiliation inside a schooling recognition and a strong cultural origin. Hence, an individuals’ perception is signified to mainly entice the various characteristics of inclusion to operate
Immigration and assimilation is a divisive topic that has been heavily debated in America ever since we became a country. There are two stories that explore the assimilation issue from different viewpoints’; in Mary Pipher’s story; “The Beautiful Laughing Sisters – An Arrival Story”; provides the viewpoint of immigrants leaving a hostile home for America. Elizabeth Wong details her journey to break with her culture and become Americanized in, “The Struggle to be an all American girl.” and (McWhorter, 2010 pp522-529). At debate today is whether immigrants and their families should blend into American culture even if it means breaking with their past. Once cultures intermingle, they are forever changed.
In both Xenophon’s Oeconomicus and Lysias’ defense of Euphiletus’ murder of Eratosthenes, insight into the purpose and function of Athenian marriage may be gained by examination of the speeches of two citizens about their wives and their homes. Through both texts, it becomes apparent that the citizen’s value of his wife is based upon his wife’s ability as an “oikonomikos” or “skilled household manager” (Strauss, 3). It is through filling this role as her husband’s housekeeper that an Athenian woman experienced a loss of personal freedom and found herself trapped within a marriage in which she had little contact or much in common with her husband. A woman’s role as oikonomikos is described by Euphiletus’ address of an Athenian citizen-jury and by Socrates’ discourse with Ischomachos, through which he strives to understand the best way by which a household may be managed.
Indisputably, everyone learns from things that they are not accustomed to or that are different. Everything that we see or don’t has an aspect of human diversity due to the existence of differences between one another. Hence, diversity exists everywhere and, honestly, makes life more interesting! As a common theme in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” diversity proves to be an invaluable life lesson to major characters in the film and in the cultures they represent. However, all too often in the real world, some people take the meaning of diversity and use it as a lever to induce discomfort, polarization, and conflict between individuals or groups.
To begin, I want to define assimilation which according to the Oxford dictionary means “The absorption and integration of people, ideas, or culture into a wider society or culture” After see this definition I may say that we as humans, we are always trying to adapt to new cultural environments in the places where we are living. So, when a child or an adult move to a different place or to a different country, they consciously or unconsciously tend to adjust themselves to the new culture of the dominant population. Talking about assimilation I think that a person in his/her own choice, can opt how much they want to integrate to the new culture. To illustrate this point and giving an example of my own, I would say that in my case I always want
With their great stability to maintain their love, they were able to convince her stubborn father to finally get married. They had their wedding ceremony at an Orthodox Church based on her parent's strong religious beliefs, her relatives were spitting on her while she was walking down the aisle to let the evil away which really surprised Land’s western parents. The weddings service in the Greek Orthodox faith is an ancient and beautiful ceremony that is full of symbolism that is highly influenced by the Greek culture, which it’s quite the opposite in westerns weddings where it’s usually less crowded and
An immigrant country for immigrants founded by immigrants, America was destined the melting pot of all religion, race, and culture. During the decades of fresh new freedom, rush of the west, industrial and political machines, and the hustling, bustling new America, the country’s identity was not yet established or important. The ideal American at the time was the kin of her founders, white and protestant, the first immigrants, the true natives, and the powerful. Many believed it was the duty of the ideal American to help those who did not meet the definition, thus beginning the age of assimilation. Sometimes assimilation is deeply rooted in the fear of the foreign and the desire to transfer one’s own identity and beliefs to a seemingly inferior
As previously stated, religion is a large influencer in the acculturation process. This is evidently seen in certain cultures such as in the Catholic community. The Catholic faith teaches women’s primary role as mothers and caregivers. This may lead to women under the Catholic faith to avoid being active in public or non-family tasks and activities (Koeske). The restrictions set on certain individuals, by religion, limits them from fusing the new culture with their traditions from home, ultimately disallowing the individual from growing and learning. Now that we know that the acculturation process affects all members in an immigrant family, we can see that the youth in these families struggle to become independent. These feelings are brought on by the youth feeling obligated to help their families while the American society is pushing for independence. This can lead to confusion among the youth in every family and can cause issues relating to their self-identity. While the youth continue to feel obligated to care for their families, they will find it more difficult to become independent and much harder to integrate the new culture into their lives when their family is promoting old