MovieChat Forums > My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) Discussion > As a Greek that have lived outside the c...

As a Greek that have lived outside the country for 10 years I feel like


I feel like this movie's propagation of steoreotypes

e.g. "greek girls must marry young and do babies"

are not necessarily UNtrue.

but they appear to be related to Greek ****IMMIGRANTS**** from older generations.

i.e. that steoreotype is TRUE but it is true for my GRANDMOTHER here in greece.

e.g. My mother is a lawyer working on her own business, my sister an actor.

And we're not even 'higher class', just an average family. Not even in Athens.


Generally from my experience OUTSIDE greece, I feel like immigrants are very tight on holding traditions and that may keep them 'back'. Hence young girls today being treated like my.. grandma in greece.

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Well Dax there IS that whole 'being swallowed up by the sinful Big Bad City' that many folks tell us to watch out for; My father had several Uncles who lived out here on the West Coast; NONE of them married & they all gambled, drank & whored all their earnings away---they all dies penniless & were buried in paupers graves...My Father used to take them flowers when He was younger...

NM

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[deleted]

I listened to the commentary by Nia Vardalos on the DVD and this movie was ripped right out of her life.

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OP, thank you for this topic. Just because the movie is based on Vardalos's own life doesn't mean it can be extrapolated to the experience of every Greek or Greek American. Stereotypes are laden in the movie, and even if they are based on views of gender and marriage that were once held, or sometimes still held by some people, it doesn't mean that every person of Greek descent has the same views. Attitudes change with generation, in Greece, the U.S., and many places elsewhere, as well as with assimilation in the U.S. or other countries emigrated to. Attitudes also vary depending on the person.

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It's also ironic considering that Greece has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world - around 1.3 children per woman, I think. So clearly, making babies simply isn't a priority for Greek women anymore.

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