MovieChat Forums > Big Fat Gypsy Weddings (2011) Discussion > Enjoy the show and the interesting contr...

Enjoy the show and the interesting contradictions


No living together, no un-chaparoned dating, no premarital sex, and divorce is frowned upon. Yet the wedding dresses and other female attire is revealing and the way they dance! Even the little girls! Fun and interesting show to watch. Of course I don't know if it is a true representation of the group... I am here in the U.S

I don't think the American version will hold a candle to the UK version... It just seems more 'real' and love the accents.

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I agree. If they are soooo moral then why dress like hookers? I didn't dress anything like that when I was sixteen and be rest assured that any future daughter I have would never do it either. It's disturbing.

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[..] why dress like hookers?
Think that they're mostly putting on a show (and with the acting-out, too; you know, "drama queens"), happy to be on camera, lolz. xD

World-famous, lol!

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I was just about to post about this i for the life of me can't understand why they go to the child's christening looking like 2 dollar hookers.And not only that they leave from a CHURCH and go to the CLUB and party the night away ?? man i couldn't even cuss after a regular sunday service let alone when i got baptized lol. I guess i don't see they morals either cause that boggles my mind something serious.

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I don't get the dressing sleazy in church thing. To be in any religious house of worship and not dress conservatively is disrespectful to me. I'm not saying dress like you are Amish, but at least put a jacket or shawl on over the low cut dresses and wear something that doesn't make your butt cheeks hang out until you get to the reception. Then they wonder why people dislike them.

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I agree. They seem to go out of their way to dress like they should be pole-dancing, even when going to church. They complain that people don't like them, but they don't do anything to be liked.

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No their whole attitude is "we are going to do what we want to do whether it's legal or moral and if you don't like it tough!"

Then they whine that they are discriminated against DUH!!!!!!!!!

I don't mind the big hoopskirt dresses, but the wedding guests look like a halloween party gone horribly wrong. I wouldn't want to wake up one morning and see an empty lot now full of 200 campers with a million kids and dogs all over the place, not to mention the noise and garbage.

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I imagine the sanitation issues would be a nightmare for the communities dealing with these camps.

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Plus they are con artists.

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Um...obviously not all of them are con artists, thieves, etc. I'm sure some are, and they ruin the reputation of the rest because people always focus on the bad apples and ignore those that are decent, hardworking people which I'm sure is the majority of gypsies and travellers. People tend to forget that there are plenty of non-travellers who are scammers and predators too, otherwise nobody would have to lock their doors, protect their personal information, worry about online predators, etc., but I don't see anyone saying that ALL non-travellers are thieves just because SOME are. There are good and bad people in ANY culture. Unfortunately, it's the bad ones that usually get all the attention, especially when they are considered outside the "norm" and don't live the way most people live. That makes them easy targets for discrimination. As for the clothes, who really cares how they dress? Looking "slutty" is all a matter of perception. A hundred years ago people would have been beyond shocked to see the way we dress today. But we see it as completely normal because we're so used to it. Does that make us all sluts and prostitutes? No! In the traveler culture it's okay to dress more revealingly. Big deal. In fact, I happen to think those outfits are kind of pretty. And it obviously doesn't have a detrimental effect on their society because, when it comes down to it, they're not the ones that go sleeping around all the time like teenagers (and adults) in OUR society do. In fact, I think it really says something that they dress and dance that way and still keep their moral code. That doesn't happen much in our society. I would much rather have our teenagers dress revealingly but act conservatively, rather than the other way around (as is generally the norm for US). We could learn a thing or two from them if we stopped judging and looked beyond the surface at the real people underneath.

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Are you a gypsy? Also it seems the boys are allowed to sleep around while the girls are the ones who have to remain pure.

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Also it seems the boys are allowed to sleep around while the girls are the ones who have to remain pure.



This is exactly right and, I believe, this is the reason for the outfits being so revealing.

In the Romanichal society, men are the "kings" and women are there to make sure everything is done for them. The women stay home and cook, clean and take care of the kids while the men go out and make money to support the family. The girls stay "pure" until marriage to make sure the men have a good quality wife. The girls and women dress the way they do so that they look good/sey for the men. The dancing is also the way it is because that's their style of dance designed to be enticing to the men.

Regardless to how they dress and dance, these girls are kept under a tight reign by their families to make sure that they don't end up with a bad reputation and can be married to a good quality man from a good family. Even just the smallest bit of untrue gossip that a girl is not pure can ruin her chances of a good marriage, so girls are never allowed out of the house without several chaperones...that way no one can make up a story about something she did while she was out.

Things like premarital se, living together, having a baby before being married and divorce are things you just don't see as often in Romanichal society as you do in our everyday society.

No matter what you think about how they dress and how they dance, it's hard to find fault with their morals as it relates to marriage and sexuality. Of course women's equality is a different story...

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Agree. Their 'culture' appears to be one where women are highly objectified and kept subservient to men. Morality is a very subjective thing - according to my moral code it's an abhorrent thing for women to be objectified in this way.

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[..] especially when they are considered outside the "norm" and don't live the way most people live.

Meh, it's called "laws" and "society".

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Love the contradictions in this show... the boys and girls are not allowed to talk to each other let alone have a relationship outside of marriage so the girls dress and act the way they do in order to attract their potential partner from the other side of the room, the younger girls included as most are expected to marry their first love. Yeah it does seem a bit weird they dress like that for church, but I guess there are not that many occasions when they are together in large groups of unrelated travellers, and in all honesty I've never seen anyone dressed like that so they can wear what they like to their private functions.

I guess it would be nice if they got good educations, but most are brought up to hit whoever it was that got on their nerves in the face until they feel better, which kinda goes against the ‘normal’ school pattern of everyone sitting quietly in rows for 10 years pretending to listen to the guy at the front.

What I find most interesting is how they talk down about us having relationships without being married, women not staying at home to look after the children, people being racist towards others etc... good knows how they afford the weddings though.

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