There's a good chance it's in this movie. I actually found it funny, since I think it's more poking fun at the stereotypes themselves than the people living in those particular countries, but you are sure to have a lot of "this movie is so racist!!!" threads in the near future.
share[deleted]
Believe it or not, WASPs, white Btits and white Aussies also have ethnic identities!! I doubt that any of the American characters could be perceived as WASPs, which is an sociological term applied to people with histories in the upper class Northeastern establishment.
shareWASP = White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Don't have to be rich to be that.
shareBru, you have already been corrected by nyamuk, but I am curious as to how you could be so misinformed as to the meaning of WASP. Your definition is so detailed, so seemingly documented, and so totally wrong. Anyone who is a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant is a WASP, regardless of anything else. No longer a majority in the US, I've read.
Give me the goddamn message, Hester.
Anyone who is a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant is a WASP, regardless of anything else
_______________________________________________________________________________
Not everyone who is White, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant is a WASP. It is used to identify an elite of long-established, upper class, well-educated northeast Protestants of English, Welsh, Irish or Scottish descent.
Look at what Wikipedis says:
The term was popularized by sociologist and University of Pennsylvania professor E. Digby Baltzell in his 1964 book "The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy & Caste in America".
The original WASP establishment created and dominated the social structure of the United States and its significant institutions when the country's social structure took shape in the 17th century until the 20th century. Many scholars, including researcher Anthony Smith, argue that nations tend to be formed on the basis of a pre-modern ethnic core that provides the myths, symbols, and memories for the modern nation and that WASPs were indeed that core.[4]
WASPs still are prominent at prep schools (expensive private high schools, primarily in the Northeast) and Ivy League universities and prestigious liberal arts colleges, such as the Little Ivies or Seven Sisters. Those colleges are overwhelmingly meritocratic, but still favor "legacy" alumni. Students learned skills, habits, and attitudes and formed connections which carried over to the influential spheres of finance, culture, and politics.
WASP families, particularly the affluent upper-class, are sometimes stereotyped as pursuing traditional British diversions such as squash, golf, tennis, equestrianism, croquet, polo, and yachting--expensive pursuits that served as a marker of affluence. Social registers and society pages listed the privileged, who mingled in the same private clubs, attended the same churches, and lived in neighborhoods — Philadelphia's Main Line and Chestnut Hill neighborhoods, New York City's Upper East Side, and Central Park West; Boston's Beacon Hill and Georgetown, Washington D.C. are fine examples. Also they may live in smaller wealthy communities like Cape Cod; Martha's Vineyard; Nantucket; Greenwich, Connecticut; Newport, Rhode Island; Falmouth Foreside, Maine and The Hamptons near Montauk, New York.
As I said, no character in this movie can possibly be seen as a WASP.
Wikipedia as an authority? Please. And I repeat, anyone who is a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant is a WASP, regardless of how, when, or by whom the term was popularized or what it was used to connote.
Give me the goddamn message, Hester.
urbandictionary:
white anglo-saxon protestant. this usually refers to affluent people in the new england area, but also whites of "old money" in other areas throughout the country.
websters: Definition of WASP
sometimes disparaging : an American of Northern European and especially British ancestry and of Protestant background; especially : a member of the dominant and the most privileged class of people in the United States
WASP does NOT refer to just anyone who is white, Anglo-saxon and Protestant.
Are Billy-Bob and Booby-Ray from Appalachia WASPs?; is the steelworkr in Pittsburgh a WASP?; is the trailer park trash in Iowa a WASP?. Of course not!! You may think you know what you are talking about, but you don't!
You may like to read this article from the Economist, 08/05/2000
"THERE was a spectre haunting the Republican National Convention this week: that of the WASP establishment. President Clinton did his best to label George W. Bush as a WASP whose only qualification for high office is that "my daddy was president"--a jibe which so infuriated George senior that he threatened to tell the country what he really thinks of his successor as "a human being and a person". And the entire point of the convention seemed to be to prove that Republicans are just like the rest of America: multi-coloured, serially disadvantaged and not a jot WASPish.
Was this all a charade? Had the real Republican convention been held months ago in some exclusive club? Was compassionate conservatism conceived in a fit of giggles over port and cigars? Or is the WASP charge just another bogeyman dreamed up by the people who brought you the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy?
By happy coincidence, the Republicans gathered in the very city that gave birth to the idea of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. E. Digby Baltzell, a local sociologist, invented the term back in 1964, and he argued that the finest examples of the species could be found in Philadelphia and its Main Line suburbs. They turned up for work puffed out and a little late after spending their morning hallooing after foxes at the Whitemarsh Valley Hunt Club. They cut business deals at the Philadelphia Club, played cricket and bowls at the Merion Cricket Club and, after a few drinks, reminisced about their time at Groton and Harvard.
Many American cities were like Baltzell's Philadelphia in the first half of the century. Even brand-new Los Angeles was run by a handful of families who met regularly in the cavernous California Club. In huge areas of business it was impossible to find a Catholic or a Jew. Ivy League universities used quotas to keep out ethnic minorities. The Republican Party was an almost exclusively WASP affair.
How much has Baltzell's world changed? The Main Line still boasts magnificent mansions. Blue-blooded Philadelphians still play cricket (a local team, the Gentlemen of Philadelphia, is touring England at the moment). But rapacious outsiders have gobbled up local institutions, such as the Girard Trust and the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society, that once gave the WASPS a comfortable nest. Hunting foxes is no longer an acceptable excuse for being late for work in any important American city.
The WASPS have had to face a two-pronged attack on their political influence. The Democrats created huge political machines, powered by immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Italy, which pushed them out of power in previously WASPish cities like Boston and New York. Then, even more painfully, they were pushed to the margins of the Republican Party by a combination of demographics and Richard Nixon's southern strategy.
The north-eastern wing of the Republican Party is now little more than a rump. The modern party gets much of its intellectual energy from Jewish neo-conservatives, much of its organisational dynamism from Southern Baptists, and much of its social tone from the likes of Dennis Hastert, a former high-school wrestling coach. The WASP elite has lost a lot of its cultural allure, too.
There was a time when immigrants wanted nothing more than to be taken for English gentlemen. The Great Gatsby's family hailed from Germany. Jewish intellectuals like Lionel Trilling adopted the mannerisms of Oxford dons. Ralph Lauren (né Lifschitz) built a business empire by selling preppie elegance. Now university humanities departments are dominated by multiculturalists who treasure every culture except the Anglo. Ralph Lauren, shaken by falling earnings, is diversifying into extreme sportswear. WASPS are the only ethnic group that it is safe to laugh at.
And yet it is hard to escape the suspicion that the last laugh may be had by the WASPS rather than their tormentors. The whole point of the multicultural jamboree in Philadelphia was to put a crown on the head of the archetypal WASP: the Ivy-League-educated son of a president and grandson of a senator. And the state delegations were sprinkled with Bush cousins and old fraternity brothers.
The children of alumni ("legatees") are still given preferential treatment for admission to America's best universities, a practice far more shameful than affirmative action. WASPS are still over-represented in the upper echelons of companies. And it should not be forgotten that the sale of all those WASP institutions, such as Philadelphia's banks, made their shareholders a lot richer.
The WASPS have not so much disappeared as evolved. They have finally learned de Tocqueville's lesson: that the best way for aristocrats to survive in a democracy is to disguise themselves as hoi polloi. They have dropped some of their nastier habits, such as anti-Semitism. They have also dropped some of their nicer ones, such as putting obligation to their local communities above maximising their profits.
No family illustrates this flexibility more perfectly than the one at the centre of this week's convention. Prescott Bush, W.'s grand-daddy, made a fortune in the oak-panelled world of Brown Brothers Harriman in New York before becoming a senator from Connecticut. George Bush senior proved his manhood by making a fortune in the hard-scrabble world of west Texas. Jeb Bush has broken every rule in the old WASP playbook by marrying a Mexican and converting to Catholicism. But Jeb's eldest son, who looks either like Pete Sampras (Lexington's view) or John Kennedy junior (every teenage girl's) and glories in the middle name Prescott, is already proving to be one of the family's best campaigners.
The WASPS have also learned to diversify their risks by supporting both sides of the political aisle. A long line of blue-bloods have jettisoned the increasingly vulgar Republican Party for the Democrats. Some of the bluest blood in the Senate runs through the veins of Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat. The Ivy League universities and great foundations, all founded and fertilised with WASP money, are solidly in the Democratic camp.
Bill Clinton made his disparaging remarks about Governor Bush's pedigree at one of his innumerable fund-raisers. Perhaps his biggest worry is not that George senior will tell him what he thinks of him "as a human being and a person", but that some of the blue-bloods in his audience might have taken offence."
A WASP IS NOT JUST ANYONE WHO IS WHITE, ANGLO-SAXON AND PROTESTANT!!!
Citizendium:
"WASP refers to White Anglo-Saxon Protestants in the United States or Canada, usually in a reference to an apparent elite status. The "Anglo-Saxon" part means of English descent, though in common usage people descended from elsewhere in western and northern Europe are included. By contrast Yankee refers to New Englanders of English descent, regardless of social status, while WASP includes high status white Southerners. The term WASP is used by some in a disparaging manner. More generally, Southerners in the U.S. call all Northerners "Yankees", and people outside the U.S. call all Americans "Yankees" or "Yanks."
A class factor is implicit, so that working class whites are not usually called WASPs. By the 21st century, less than 25% of the American population is of English descent, yet they continue to have disproportionate influence over major American institutions, especially cultural, educational, business and financial ones."
Citizendium:
"WASP refers to White Anglo-Saxon Protestants in the United States or Canada, usually in a reference to an apparent elite status. The "Anglo-Saxon" part means of English descent, though in common usage people descended from elsewhere in western and northern Europe are included. By contrast Yankee refers to New Englanders of English descent, regardless of social status, while WASP includes high status white Southerners. The term WASP is used by some in a disparaging manner. More generally, Southerners in the U.S. call all Northerners "Yankees", and people outside the U.S. call all Americans "Yankees" or "Yanks."
A class factor is implicit, so that working class whites are not usually called WASPs. By the 21st century, less than 25% of the American population is of English descent, yet they continue to have disproportionate influence over major American institutions, especially cultural, educational, business and financial ones."
DOMINANT GROUP ETHNIC IDENTITY IN THE UNITED STATES:
The Role of “Hidden’ Ethnicity in Intergroup Relations
Ashley W. Doane Jr.
Sociological Quarterly,Volume 38, Issue 3, pages 375–397, June 1997
WASP refers to a social elite, NOT JUST ANY PERSON WHO IS WHITE, ANGLO-SAXON AND PROTESTANT!!!
what a jackass!!
I have to say, I do think this movie is full of stereotypes, but they are balanced stereotypes. I am Greek, but born and raised in America. So, I understood a lot of how some Greek people feel about tourists and how some tourists feel about Greek people and foreign cultures. I don't think it was so much of an eye-opener (at least not to me), but I do think the stereotypes were a bit heavy-handed. I did like the romance story in this film and I enjoy Nia Vardalos movies.
If you think of stereotypes, they were created for a reason, they do have an ounce of truth in them -- to be fair. Otherwise, stereotypes wouldn't exist!
"I have to say, I do think this movie is full of stereotypes, but they are balanced stereotypes. I am Greek, but born and raised in America. So, I understood a lot of how some Greek people feel about tourists and how some tourists feel about Greek people and foreign cultures. "
Unfortunately, the above is true. Though I love history, I run into people who want to go to Europe just to party and they act really obnoxious. They don't want to eat Greek food so they complain their isn't a McDonald's or Starbucks nearby...etc.
The parts of the film I liked the best were the history parts and I tried to get the best out of the little snippets I hear before the so-called comedy came up to ruin it. I've never understood why Americans (well, especially Americans since I am one and have seen it firsthand) have to be entertained with dumb humor and "energy" as opposed to enjoying museums, art and culture.
People I do would rather stay at a crappy resort and buy crappy imported nicknacks instead of see actual culture. I wonder why they even bother traveling out of America if they only want to drink. And I can see how the ugly American thing started. A bunch of ignorant disrespectful people in a loud gaudy bus with no want of seeing anything real in Greece...just want to go to the safer Americanized version of it where a brain is not needed and they have everything like they do back home.
It's just funny to me. If I ever go to Greece (I've been to many countries in Europe, but not Greece), I want to spend days looking at ruins and museums. If I want a beach, I'll just stay here! :)