To Greek or not to Greek
The movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding demonstrates the stark differences that are evident between two radically different cultures. On one hand, there is the Portokalos family who are a very traditional Greek family with greek values and traditions. The other side brings the Miller family, who are representative of a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) family with conservative outlook. This is the inherent difficulty between the two cultures, which have very different ways of expressing themselves. The Greek cultures promotes large families and family gatherings, enormous quantities of food, and lots of drinking. In the Miller family, they have an inherent inclination to higher class things, and polite conversation, and their privacy. In an article written by Satish Pandey in the European Journal of Training and Development talks about how students viewing the film came out with the idea that culture shock was the pre-eminent theme that was present, and that it’s important to get to know about other cultures and understand how things work. (Pandey, 1) This idea is what I think is realized by the end of the film, and it is one that needs to be practiced in our incredibly diversified society.
The most prominent example of culture shock in the film would be when the Miller and Portokalos families are supposed to meet. Their expectations are radically different in coming to this dinner. For the Miller’s, they are expecting a nice quiet dinner where they have conversation and get to know each other on a personal level, like the average American might do. However, the Portokalos parents invite their entire extended family and are planning a big celebration. The whole scene is just cuts from the parents of Ian Miller being shocked and trying to comprehend things, while the Portokalos parents don’t recognize that they may not be at all familiar and just kind of expect them to partake in all the festivities without any explanation. In this scene, there was no communication of the way each other’s cultures were being experienced by either party. In that moment, there weren’t two more separate cultures at play. One which is just confused as to what is going on, and the other which is oblivious to the confusion on their part. It’s important to note that Gus Portokalos (Toula’s father) even says that Ian Miller (Toula’s fiancee) and his parents are too dry and feels as if he is being watched like a zoo. They don’t really communicate to each other about the differences they feel because they don’t have a trust built up at all, and are too shy and don’t want to be perceived in a negative light.
It is a movie afterall so the process by which they show this resolution of the cultural communication is not so clear, but the baptism is definitely one step that helped bring the culture together. That was the first major step in building a trust between Ian and Gus together and helping Ian trying to cement his place in their family. After this we come to the wedding day and immediately you see the differences in the size of the guest list at the ceremony. It takes place in a Greek Orthodox church which is yet another step in the trust process between the two families. However, there is yet more culture shock here which comes in the form of the Miller family not understand any part of the ceremony because it’s all in Greek. So they sit their and look nice. It isn’t until the party begins that we see the two families come together. When Gus gives them their gift of a house it is his final acceptance of Ian and his family as being part of theirs. After his expectations of Toula marrying a Greek man were squashed he was distraught and beside himself. However, he has come to accept that Ian is a good man who will respect and learn to understand the tradition. In this gift, it opens up the lane for the Miller parents to understand that their son will be part