Oct.

1st/15

Nadine Akershoek

Essay My Big Fat Greek Wedding

In our Sociology class, Families in Canada, we watched a film called
My Big Fat Greek Wedding which was based around a woman named Toula
Portokalos who came from a Greek Orthodox family. She met and fell in love
with a man named Ian Miller, who was not from Greek Orthodox, which made
her father disapprove of the relationship in the beginning. This film can relate
to all the seven theories we have studied in our sociology class. The first one
includes the conflict theory when her father, Gus Portokalos, fights to show
that he is the superior in the household. The second theory is the feminist
theory; we see feminism play a role in this film when Toula explains her
roles as a Greek woman. The third theory, symbolic interactionism, Toula
judged herself on how her father always perceived her to be which made her
make some changes in herself. The fourth theory which is Structural
functionalism; connects to their religion views on the roles women should
play in their culture. The fifth theory, developmental theory, plays a role in
the film from the beginning to end right from when she was a little girl all the
way until the ending when she started her family. The sixth theory includes
the social exchange theory and this is where Toula creates her relationships
with her family members stronger and treats them with more value. The final
theory is the system theory, it relates to the Portokalos family in a way where
you can relate to them as an intrapersonal family.
Starting with the first theory, conflict theory; which is the theory where a
person fights for power and control to be categorized as the superior one. It
relates to the film in the way where the father of the Portokalos family, Gus,
tries to show that he is the superior one. He always tells his family that he is
the head of the household because he is the man of the house. He also tries
to gain all the power and control of whoever was/is living under his roof. The
way he did that was when he always argued with his wife, Maria, about how
she was always wrong, but shed always come back with a fight which made
him not always win the power and control over her. He also tried to take
control over Toulas life by first starting to make her go to Greek school as a
young child when she never wanted to, the controlling also continued on into
her adult ages. The first time was when she wanted to start taking a
computer class at a college but he always tried to find a reason why she
couldnt go, but also lost that fight to his wife. The last controlling incident
that occurred was when Toula fell in love with a man named Ian Miller, who
was not Greek, and wanted to get married to him but Gus was very much
against that because in his culture he believes that Greek women must

Nadine Akershoek

Oct. 1st/15

marry Greek men. Ian was not a Greek man which made Gus not completely
agree with the marriage, but he also lost this power to do so and they
married and lived happily.

Heading off to the second theory which is the feminist theory, this theory is
based around the equality between both genders. It connects with this film
with a specific line when Toula states in the beginning of the movie, nice
Greek girls are supposed to do three things in life: marry Greek boys, make
Greek babies and feed everyone until the day we die. Their whole Greek
culture is a pre-feminist culture because the quote is saying that is whats
expected of Greek women and nothing else. The father repeatedly said that
statement to his children which made them feel the need to follow it.
Throughout most of the movie Gus would make remarks towards Toula about
how she should find a husband soon and then start her family. Its feminist in
this way because he believes that women are only supposed to do those
three things in life and nothing else is expected of them. He was not even
allowing Toula to attend college which I believe it has something to do with
her being a female which is based around the feminist theory.
Thirdly, symbolic interactionism connects to the movie because this theory
describes how people judge themselves on how people treat them (the
looking glass self). Toula judges herself as old and unattractive because of
the remarks her father makes towards her on a regular basis. He always tells
her get married, make babies, you look so old, which makes Toula put
herself down a little and made herself look better/younger by resorting to
makeup and dressing nicer. Her father perceived her badly so she thought of
herself that way as well.
The next theory I will be relating to the movie is the structural functionalism
theory. This theory talks about the norms, or roles that people perform to
keep society functioning properly. This theory relates to the quote I
mentioned earlier which was nice Greek girls are supposed to do three
things in life: marry Greek boys, make Greek babies and feed everyone until
the day we die. It relates to that quote because it connects to the functions
of their culture, women complete these tasks to keep the family growing
larger and larger. These three rules that the father states to her are known to
be the norms in their Greek Orthodox. Doing these three steps keeps the
family going and happy, as well as continuing on with the family name and
Greek cultures.

Nadine Akershoek

Oct. 1st/15

Proceeding to developmental theory which plays a huge part throughout the

movie, we see her develop physically and emotionally through many
different stages in life. She primarily starts off as forming her self-identity.
When she was little she saw herself as an unpopular kid wanting to be like all
the blonde girls in her class. She grows older and starts to play bigger roles
in the society such as attending school then as she grew in age she started
to work for her father at their family restaurant. She then got the permission
to attend college to learn about computers which then contributed to society
as she pursued a different job which was working at a travel agency that her
Aunt Voula owned. She contributed in society in this way by learning about
computers and how to use them better to help her help others to book
vacations/travel destinations. She also played another role in society when
she formed her family with Ian; this family building eventually helped her
become closer with her immediate family and other family members as well.
I noticed that as she became older she found more comfort in her friendships
and relationships between her and her family members. Those relationships
grew stronger and stronger throughout the movie and in the end you see
that it all worked out well in the end and that Toula looks to be as close to
her family as possible.
The second to last theory includes the social exchange theory; which is
based around relationships and showing that usually if that relationship gives
us more benefits with the least amount of effort then we are most likely
going to value that relationship the most. This one shows that Toulas
relationships that she has built between her and her family members are the
least amount of effort because we know and she knows that they will always
be there for her. The last line of the film she states is my family is big and
loud but theyre my family. We fight and we laugh and yes, we roast lamb on
a spit in the front yard. And where ever I go, what ever I do they will always
be there. This clearly states that she doesnt have to work to make sure that
her family is always there, she knows automatically that they will be. With
this being stated she starts to value her family more near the end of the film
because she knows that they will never leave her side.
Lastly, the Portokalos family is also a part of the systems theory where they
are known to be more of an intrapersonal family because they mostly only
associate with their own culture and are only to themselves most of the time.
They also only seem to go by one rule and that is obeying their Greek
Orthodox, so with that, they dont seem like a very open-minded family. They
are also a family where they work together to reach certain goals, for
example, their one goal in life is for the women to have a lot of children then

Nadine Akershoek

Oct. 1st/15

feed everyone until the day they die, so the Greeks work together to make
sure that goal is reached and achieved all the time.
In conclusion, the Portokalos family can connect to each theory that we have
learned in our sociology class. From learning the norms of the women in the
Greek Orthodox culture to learning about how Toula perceived herself to be
in the movie because of the comments and the way her father treated her
throughout her time of being an adult.