My Big Fat Greek Wedding
I'm going to start by saying that this movie is funny. The first time you see it, it is indeed funny. However, it is not nearly up to the main hype it got from the media and film reviews. It plays like any other chick flick, only the main comedic element to the story is Greek culture. Yeah, it's funny to laugh at the ridiculous Greeks. They don't act like us because have huge families, and get togethers. This whole film seems to make fun of Greek culture. Funny as it is, I don't think it's right to make fun of others just because they have a different type of culture. That said, the main character is upset because she is still single at thirty. You see a guy character and you know that he's going to fall in love with her. You don't know why, and the film never gives any kind of clue as to why either. So, you start off with the shy and lonely female character who wants to go back to school and do something with her life, fit in with American culture as it would seem. She puts on make-up and all of a sudden, she is beautiful and popular. This is the main thing that angers me while watching any kind of chick flick. The morale of the story is that all life's problems can be solved with make-up. If the ugly unpopular girl takes off her glasses and wears make-up (She's All That, The Princess Diaries), all of a sudden, everyone thinks she's beautiful and she becomes so popular and gets the hunk she was after. This is a horrible message to send out to people. Why are you telling people that a relationship should be based on personal appearance? Why are you telling young girls that if they wear glasses and no make-up they are ugly? Why are you encouraging girls to hide what they really look like in order to fit in with stereotypes of what beauty is? Words cannot express how pissed off I feel bout this type of shallowness portrayed in the media. But back to my summary. Then the male character sees the girl and wants to date her. Why? Because she's wearing make-up. Right. Anyway, he falls in love with her for no reason and asks her to marry him. You knew this was coming from the title. Enter her family interfering with her life which is the basis for the film's comedy. They force the husband to be to go through many tests to become more Greek so he can marry the girl. Once again I have a problem with this for two reasons. 1) The movie pretty much says to change who you are for the person you love if others are unaccepting of you (Think the movie Grease). and 2) The movie never explores why this guy is so much in love with this girl. The male character has absolutely no personality. He's just the guy of her dreams who's willing to eat dog poop for her. The only insight into how he feels about her is when he says "I came alive when I met you" and states that he's sick of normal girls. That is supposed to explain everything even though we see absolutely no change in his personality upon meeting her. This also leads women to believe that the ideal husband should be a personalityless whipped pansy boy who doesn't have any balls to call his own. That said, I am going to go back to further discuss #1. Like in the movie Grease, the character has to become more like his ideal mate to both fit in and be accepted. This is really shallow. It does not promote tolerance and instead sends the message that prejudice will end when everyone gives up their own personal identity to be like each other. People should base their relationships on liking the other person for who they are and not trying to change them to be more like what they think they should be. In conclusion, this movie is funny but I fear how it will affect our culture.
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