Jchen

           The movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" portrays the difference between American and Greek culture by showing us two characters of each side. Toula Portokalos, a 30 year old Greek woman, and Ian Miller, an WASP American high school teacher, falls in love with each other. Unfortunately, Toula's cultural father would not accept Ian because he is non-Greek. While Ian's family has no difficulties accepting Toula, Toula struggles to break some "rules" of her tradition so that she could marry Ian. In fact, she wants more things in her life. She wants to go to college, have new experiences, and marry her own love. Again, her father goes in her way of these things. He expects his daughter to do three things in life, marry a Greek person, have Greek babies, and feed the baby till death. However, Toula gets her wishes later on by making her father think that it was his ideas. At the end of the movie, Toula finally gets to marry Ian in one condition. Ian was to baptize in the Greek Orthodox Church. There were also many events where American and Greek cultures were compared to such as family reunions, role of extended families, food, and personalities between the two people in the culture.

         Toula's life story is related to my life in many ways. Greek culture and Chinese culture are almost the same except in family reunions and wedding ceremonies. We may have different beliefs but they are somehow connected. My parents believe that Chinese women should be educated until they graduate high school. After that, they are supposed to marry to a Chinese man that their parents chose, have babies, and become housewives. Toula's life is also similar to mine. Not only do we want more in our lives, we are "rule breakers" in the family. Toula also falls in love with a person that is a different race. Similarly, I am dating a person that is outside of my race and culture. My parents disagree with this relationship and treat my boyfriend badly. In addition, they also discriminate him and took him as, in their words, a "dirty Mexican," while is an Ecuadorian. My parents are a lot like Toula's parents because they both believe that their race and culture is the dominant one. Luckily, Toula and my wishes both came true. My family allowed me to go to college, date my Ecuadorian boyfriend, and curved some "rules" in the tradition. This movie was also exciting and fun to watch because it made me think about the different cultures in this world. There are a lot of cultures out there that makes people different from us. At first, I thought that Greek people are disgusting because they were actually spitting on the bride. However, my Greek friend told me that spitting at a person represented good luck. It made me realize that I know very little of other cultures and that I should not judge a culture before having an explanation.

     She listened to my arguments and must have heard the note of desperation in my voice. She said very gently to me, ‘You better be ready for disappointment' ... Ted had told him [his father] my name. ‘Ortiz? That's spanish, isn't     it?'...Ted's father had shaken his head. No. Ted would not be taking me out (Cofer 401).

This quote portrayed Cofer's life in high school as she had her heart broken twice. Once, because she could not date the guy she liked in high school. Second, because she was Spanish. In fact, it was because of this truth that caused her date to be ruined. Ted's father is one example of racism and discrimination towards others. He did not let Ted go out with Cofer, because he believed that many Spanish people are dirty. Cofer also writes, "He [Ted's father] had lived in New York City while studying architecture and had seen how the spics lived. Like rats" (401). He had judged Cofer based on her appearance and ethnicity.

     Many people have been judged first by their appearances throughout their whole lives. In addition, these appearances are also a disadvantage towards many things in society. Many Spanish and African Americans have been denied of jobs and are treated differently based on their skin color. In my opinion, many people should be treated the same. People should not be judged by their appearances but by their actions. They should not judge others due to the fact that other people are different from who they are. In addition, I believe that a person's actions describe the person itself.

     I was often taught by my parents to keep away from everyone. They often said that our kind of people, the Chinese, is the only people that you can trust. Although they have said that, growing up in America ever since I was three caused me to have an open mind. I was different from my parents because I did not see a reason to hate everyone else besides Chinese people. In fact, I believe that everyone deserves equality unless they did something criminal. I judged many people based on their actions and gave respect to people.

     I can relate the scene that Cofer experienced in high school, although my own experience was a bit different from hers. I played the character, Ted, while my boyfriend, played the role, Cofer. When I first started dating my Ecuadorian boyfriend, Jay Heras, my sister heard his last name and told my mother. Like Ted's father, she also asked me if he was Spanish. I nodded my head, and I remembered at that time, my mother went ballistic. Her daughter was dating a Spanish person. In fact, she was expecting me to date "one of our people," like the way I was taught when I was a child. During that time, it was hard for my mother to accept my boyfriend. Although I kept dating Jay, I could not stand how my own mother would be discriminating her own daughter's boyfriend. I wanted my mother to judge Jay by his kind actions. In addition, I did not want my mother to call Jay a "dangerous Spanish kid who carries a gun everywhere." She believed that Spanish people are dangerous because of the violence that they are known for in the newspapers. Therefore, I kept bringing Jay to our house and made him stay late for dinner. I knew that it was the only way that my mother would see the respect that he has towards everyone and who he really is. It was not until a year later, that my mother started to slowly accept him. Ortiz, in the other hand, gave up after the shattering news while I used one year to pay for what I wanted. That is what made my story different from hers.

Juan Chen

English 120W

Professor Blackman-Richards

February 3, 2009

     The video clip, "Slip of The Tongue," started off with the male character flirting with a female. He tried to find out more about her and at the same time, he tried to get her to notice him by asking questions like, "What is your ethnic makeup?" Although he was trying to flirt with her, the female character answered that question in a serious way. She explained that her ethnic makeup is something that cannot be replaced by other ethnic groups, and she also revealed how she was proud of her ethnic and culture. In addition, she compared herself to her sisters. Her sisters wore makeup to hide their true self, while she wore makeup and kept her own style. She also mentions how her sisters change from one trend to another just to be in a crowd, in the other hand, she believed that people should like who she really is. In the end, the male character was blown away by her answer to his peculiar question.

     The message of this video is that ethnicity is not something you can make up. The producer of this video uses makeup as a symbol. Throughout the movie, the female character pointed out that makeup hides who you are, inside and outside. You are born with this ethnicity and it is in your blood. Although people today have their own style of fashion and makeup, most of them choose to wear it because they want to belong in a crowd. They choose to forget who they really are so that they can get attention from others.

     I believe that ethnicity can be changed from time to time. Although it is in your blood, you tend to forget about it because you are used to the lifestyle that was given to you in your past. I was born in China, but I have not yet learned how to actually live in China before I knew what my identity and ethnicity was. I moved to America when I was three, and that was what I remembered most. I did not remember anything from China or how people dressed there. When the female character mentioned about her sisters and how she was different from them, it was somewhat related to me. I am different from my sisters. I arrived in America when I was three while my sisters were age 6 and up. They were half raised in China and remembered everything about China. They worked to support our family, because it was a Chinese tradition that a woman's duty was in China. In the other hand, I had a lot of free time, because I did not believe in the tradition. Although I know what the female is trying to say, I believe that I am more American than I am Chinese. In fact, I am more than just an American. I am Indian, Spanish, Asian, and the other ethnicities that exist. I am what I have lived with throughout my life. I also believe that ethnicity is something you cannot make up, but it is also inevitable when the ethnicity comes to you and enters you without knowing.