Storyline
My Big Fat Greek Wedding takes place in a middle-class city in Chicago with the Portokalos family. Gus and Maria Portokalos have three children, Athena, Nick, and Toula. Athena is married with three children, Nick hasnât found a virgin to marry, and Toula is 30 years old without a husband nor children. The family owns a Greek restaurant called Dancing Zorbaâs and food plays a big role in constantly feeding their big family along with customers. Food appears on big plates, piled high. Appears at parties, home visits, and at the restaurant; a different person was always eating. Being Greek, the women are responsible for marrying other Greeks, having Greek babies, and feeding everyone. Family tensions rise when Toula falls in love with a non-Greek professor, Ian Miller.
   (Goodman, 2014)
Themes
Culinary Tourism
Maria and Gus Portokalos own Dancing Zorbaâs where they cook and sell authentic Greek food. Their son, Nick, is the chef and their daughter, Toula, is the seating hostess. Their customers come from all parts of Chicago to get a taste of Greek. Toula is still working at the restaurant because she doesnât have a husband to take care of her. The rest of their family comes and goes from the restaurant all day.
Toula first meets Ian with he walks into Dancing Zorbaâs meeting his friend, Mike, for lunch (21:49).
 (DaMan, 2013)
Ethnicity
Toulaâs family is very religious and believe Greeks should only marry and have children with other Greeks. Her mother is always cooking and feeding people while her father is always preaching about how people wish they were Greek. The family is always eating and being loud togetherâalways gossiping about the next person. Since Toula isnât married yet, her father doesnât want her to leave him because he needs her to work the family business. Her family doesnât believe she will ever get married because being 30 she isnât pretty enough anymore. Her family, especially her father, is devastated when sheâs falling in love with Ian since he isnât Greek.
Our house is modeled after the parthenon with Corinthian columns guarded by statues of the gods (9:25).
Toula doesnât believe her and Ian will work out because of his and hers family, but Ian doesnât care about family backgrounds because he likes being with her (30:41).
Toulaâs father finds out about Ian and he is very upset because he doesnât know anything about him. He doesnât know if Ian is nice, smart, or comes from a good family. He doesnât come to realization they love each other because Ian didnât come to him in the beginning to ask his permission (52:35).
Gender
The main focus Toula should have is to cook, clean, and feed her husband and children. Nobody in her family thinks she is any good for anyone anymore because she is aging and doesnât look as good as when she was younger. Her father offered to send her to Greece to meet a nice, Greek man to bring back home, but she said no. He assumed it is because she doesnât want to get married, however; it is because she doesnât to marry another Greek. Toula always wanted to be like the other girls who were skinny with blonde hair. She doesnât want to produce âloud, Greek eaters!â
Toulaâs dad tells her to get married fast because she looks so old right in the beginning of the film (2:15).
Year after year still not married. 30 years old and past my expiration date (15:40).
Opinion
I really enjoyed this film. I thought it was well put together and provided great detail into the life of a Greek family. Some strengths the film had were portraying what life is like for a Greek woman. Growing up in a huge family where everyone knows all of your business, and you are always eating whether you were hungry or not. Being told the main focus and dream of a Greek woman should be to find a good Greek man and have lots of children to carry on the Greek culture. If you didnât get married before your âexpiration dateâ you were seen as a disappointment to your family. The family in this film believed food made you feel good and was the best form of hospitality. Feeding everyone, so no one felt hungry nor neglected. Food brought the family together and brought them closer. Another strength was how the film showed the Portokalos family letting someone non-Greek into their family. Toulaâs father didnât like Ian at first because he didnât come to him for permission, but Ian was willing to do anything to be with Toula. Ian was baptized and became Greek to get the familyâs blessing which I thought was really interesting to watch. Overall the movie was really good.
References
DaMan (2013). [Untitled Illustration].
Retrieved April 28, 2019 from https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/8346-my-big-fat-greek-wedding/images/backdrops
Goodman, J. (2014). [Untitled Illustration].
Retrieved April 28, 2019 from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/my-big-fat-greek-wedding-sequel_n_5403134
Vardalos, N. (Writer), & Zwick, J. (Director). (2002). My Big Fat Greek Wedding [Motion
Picture]. United States: Gold Circle.