Why do Greeks from Greece hate this movie so much?
I think I know some reasons, but I want to see the responses of some native Greeks.
shareBecause it's basically one Greek stereotype after another,and the jokes based on that aren't really funny to us,actual native Greece. No,being oily doesn't make you Greek. No,fathers are not that overprotective and manipulative to their daughters,not since the 1970's.
It literally takes all the stereotypes of the Greek culture and crams them shamelessly into an overrated "comedy. The film is literally just one and a half hours of "lol they are Greeks,that's so quirky and funny haha" and "haha this is happening because they are Greek" while the characters have the bare minimum amount of character for this to be considered a film.
And the fact that they are Greek literally does not give any insight to the film itself,they might as well be Russian,Italian,German and so on and so forth and the film would be basically the same but with other stereotypes. It seemed like the choice to make this film about a Greek wedding was completely arbitrary.
It might as well be renamed to "My big fat Stereotypical marriage"
I probably seem salty and biased over this and,admittedly,I am a little,because I am native Greek,but holy sh***t this film doesn't have to offer anything other "haha this is my Greek quirk lol it is weird from your point of view because you aren't Greek and don't understand this heavily intensified stereotype of our home culture. so random lol"
I am a Greek-American and this film doesn't offend me, nor does it offend other Greek-Americans I know, and this film is about us and not the Greeks of Greece. Rather we tend to think this film is funny and enjoyable, and many other Americans like the film as well. The film is about Greek-Americans and not Russians, or another group, because the writer and star Nia Vardalos is a Greek-American. It started as a play that eventually Rita Wilson whose family has roots in Greece(her family are muslim Pomaks and she is married to the much more famous actor Tom Hanks) saw Vardalos peform as a one-woman act. Eventually Tom Hanks' production company commissioned Nia to turn it into a low-budget independent film. When I saw it was only available at one theater locally I never been to a bit of a drive away, but a year later it starting showing in almost all local theaters as word of mouth spread and it eventually became the highest grossing romantic comedy and fifth highest grossing film of 2002.
I think Greeks from Greece view the film differently compared to Americans and even Greek-Americans because sadly they tend to hate at most or to put more mildly not like their diaspora that much, especially the American one. Now I know that few Greeks from Greece watch contemporary Greek movies so you will not get the following references to Greek movies and this satire using your take of Vardalos's movie against you:
I didn't like Hardcore 2004( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396630/ ) because it depicted Greek women as hookers and most Greek women are not hookers. I didn't like Miss Violence 2013 ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3078242/ ) because it depicted Greek families as dens of incest and murder, few Greek families condone or actually have incest or murder each other. I didn't like A Woman's Way/Strella 2009 ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1332125/ ) because it also depicted incest and even worse in the Greek family and that is not typical of Greek families. I also didn't like Dogtooth 2009 ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1379182/ ) because it also depicted incest in the Greek family and the children were treated like prisoners, and most Greek children are allowed out!
Why do you Greeks from Greece try to work hard to create this stupid stereotype of Greeks families loving and participating in incest? Can Greek directors do anything besides incest? In all seriousness, movies are not realistic. All the Greece produced Greek language unrealistic films don't bother you, what bothers you is one about the Greek diaspora because it "creates stereotypes"(really it is just as unrealistic as any other American comedy) and not the Greek films mentioned by me. My Big Fat Greek Wedding had alot of cliches and stereotypes like all movies. American comedies have a bad habit of depicting drugs and alcohol as the gateway creating amazing adventures and awesome times. But in real life most the druggies, alcoholics and potheads don't fight Kim Jong-Il's army and win, have awesome adventures, or do much of anything besides sit around and gossip.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding had alot of unrealistic elements, but it at its core it hit on alot of the truth about the contrasts between the Greek family structure even in diaspora versus the American. Greek families are much more tight-knit and hyper-interventionist than white American ones. Infact a much more realistic Greek film you probably never seen and never will, 45m2( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1572962/ ) concured. In one iconic scene Cristina who wanted nothing more than to move out from her overbearing mother confronted her on behalf of all young Greeks:
"All the [Greek] mothers I know are just like you. Gogo's Mum and Haris's, too. You're all oppressive. You had nothing, and we had to have everything you didn't. So everything you didn't manage, we have to... But did you ever ask any of us if we want the same things? Did you? Of course, not. Which is how you got us to shut up. You kept on sticking it down our throats so we can't say a word. ... Why do you think I messed up so badly? Why? It was resistance... to you for never letting up about studying. “No, I won't study like that”, I said, “even if I end up in a shop..."