Preview

Family Paper

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3085 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Family Paper
Family Paper
NURS 3304 Professional Nursing Practice
October 6, 2011

Introduction
The movie we chose to review is My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The film portrays a large family with strong cultural beliefs. Family relatives include Tula Portokalos, Gus Portokalos, Maria Portokalos, Athena Portokalos, Yiayia, Aunt Voula, Nick Portokalos, Uncle Taki, Athena, Foci, Cousin Nikki, Cousin Angelo, Yianni, Cousin Jennie, Aunt Frieda, Cousin Marianthi, Aunt Lexy, Aunt Nota, and Paris Miller. The cast also includes a priest. Opposite the Portokalos family is Ian Miller and his small traditional family made up of Harriett and Rodney Miller. Also in the plot is Ian’s friend, Mike. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is about a traditional Greek family who wants their 30 year old daughter, Toula Portokalos, to be married. While working in the family restaurant, Dancing Zobra’s, Toula meets Ian Miller with whom she falls in love. Ian Miller is not Greek but in order to marry Toula, he agrees to embrace the Greek culture and Orthodox Greek religion. In turn the Portokalos family must accept Ian and he struggles to embrace the traditions of the Greek family to which he now belongs.
Family Cultural Assessment
The family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding is large. Each family function is attended by the entire immediate family. This includes thirteen cousins and assorted aunts and uncles. Despite its size, the family is very tight knit. Members of the Portokalos family are strong believers in the Greek tradition and do everything together. The Greek culture is traditionally centered on the Greek Orthodox Church. These are very religious and cultural people. The tenants of their Greek Orthodox faith permeate all facets of their lives. They value strong family ties and follow the guidelines of a patriarchal family structure. With the father at the top of this family, the mother is the home maker. The father works while the mother stays at home cooking and cleaning to



References: Arends-Tóth, J., & Van de Vijver, F. (2008). Family relationships among immigrants and majority members in the Netherlands: the role of acculturation. Applied Psychlogy: An International Review, 57(3), 466-487. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.2008.00331.x Bagourdl, E., & Valsman-Tzachor, R. (2010). Are Greek-Americans Likely to Seek Psychotherapy?. Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, 13(1), 36-41. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Greena, A. and Vryonides, M. (2005). Ideological Tensions in the Educational Choice Practices of Modern Greek Cypriot Parents: The Role of Social Capital. British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul., 2005), pp. 327-342. Jarvis, Carolyn. (2008). Erikson 's Developmental Stages. (2008). Physical Examination and Health Assessment. St .Louis, Missouri: Saunders Elsevier. Likeridou, K., Hyrkäs, K., Paunonen, M., & Lehti, K. (2001). Family dynamics of child-bearing families in Athens, Greece: A pilot study. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 7(1), 30-37. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Nixon, R. (1982). Understanding the Greek Orthodox Church vol 107 issue 12, p 1230. Rodriquez, N, Mira, C, Paez, N, & Myers, H. (2007). Exploring the complexities of familism and acculturation: central constructs for people of Mexican origin 3(1/2) 61-77. doi: 10.1007/s10464-007-9090-7 Scourby, A. (1980). The Generations of Greek Americans: A study in Ethnicity. International Greek Interview p 43-52. Szabo, G, & Mandrekar, P. (2010). Focus on:alcohol and the liver. Alcohol Research and Health, 33(1&2), Retrieved from http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh40/toc33-1_2.htm Hanks, T. (Producer) & Zwick, J. (Director). (2002). My Big Fat Greek Wedding [Motion Picture]. United States of America: Gold Circle Films.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    My Big Fat Greek Wedding, is a 2002 film, that portrays the main character, Toula Portokalos and the conflict that occurs after she decides to marry someone outside of her culture. In the film, Toula is the middle child of an immigrant family that proudly represents their Greek Heritage. The most prominent cultural belief is that Toula must marry a Grecian man. With the assistance of her mother and her aunt, Toula is able to attend college and work for her aunt’s travel agency, despite her father’s original disapproval.…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tom Hanks and Shelley Long play Anna and Walter, a young couple just married. They spend most of their time dealing with managing their new house. The performed the unstable love of the couple clearly.…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unit 201: Child and young person development Outcome 1: The main stages of child and young person development |1.1 |Describe the expected pattern of children and young people’s development | | |Physical development | | |Communication and intellectual development | | |Social, emotional and behavioural development | |Birth- | | |3 year | | | |Sucking | | |Grasping fingers and toes. | | |Rolling on tummy | | |Sitting up | | |Crawling | | |Holding things and standing | | |Walking by…

    • 1718 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Eth/125 Week 7 Assignment

    • 1462 Words
    • 6 Pages

    This research paper will identify the linguistic, political, social, economic, religious, and familial conventions or statuses of Columbian Americans, Cuban Americans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Rican Americans living in the United States.…

    • 1462 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Her family is not very united and not very close. They share no customs or traditions. For holidays she and her grandmother go to her uncle’s house. At her uncle’s house the aunts, uncles, and cousins all gather and eat a bunch of food and share great memories. Every Labor Day they have a huge party. All those relatives from far come to reunite for a fun…

    • 163 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    2). The Princess Bride movie opens the same way when the grandfather reads to the sick boy in bed. The boy’s reaction to the romantic fairytale is a sign of disgust and reflects the attitude toward pastoral romances. The ending of Daphnis and Chloe focuses on two young sheep and goat herders that fall in love in rural Lesbos, living it an even older literary style by the word usage, setting, and pastoral themes. The Greek ideality revolves around a young couple that proves their love and fidelity through an almost impossible length of obstacles, only to be together happily in the end. The movies’ long storyline comes at the price of any significant character development, an aspect that The Princess Bride uses comedic advantage. The movie places a large amount of insane barriers between Westley and Buttercup knowing about what they have both been through psychologically. Our knowledge of the characters is based only on their relation to the plotline. Their motivation to get passed these obstacles is simple, “true love”. This is the big theme that consumes the otherwise a hero for both man and…

    • 1602 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Family Assessment Paper

    • 2659 Words
    • 11 Pages

    A family nursing assessment was done on the Lois G. family during three nursing visits over a period of one month. The family lives at 1234 Main St. and their home phone number is 314-987-6543. This is a lower- middle class (Friedman, Bowden & Jones E.G., 2003), African American, Baptist, single-parent, career, divorced family that is child-oriented and not geographically mobile. Lois is 45 and has three children, Carmen, a 16 year old girl, Emille and Camille, twin 9 year old girls. The mother is the sole custodial parent of the oldest child. Carmen has minimal contact with her father,…

    • 2659 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cultural Autobiography

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages

    My father’s parents were born in a small village in the Peloponnese. They were kind and humble people that eventually made their way to Athens. My mother’s parents were born in Kafkaso, a town in Minor Asia, which at that time belonged to Greece. With the war of 1921, the Turks forced my mother’s parents to flee to Athens. They were wealthy and proud, as were many Pontian Greeks at that time. Both of my parents were born in Athens in the fifties. My mother left Athens in 1969, America bound and my father followed soon after.…

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Patient Educational Plan

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Geokas, M., Lieber, C., French, S., & Halsted, C. (1981). Ethanol, the liver, and the gastrointestinal tract. Annals Of Internal Medicine, 95(2), 198-211. Retrieved from MEDLINE with Full Text database.…

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Acculturation is vital to adapting to a new environment, but it causes difficulties for parents, children, and the relationship between them. In a large study of Latino families, acculturation was found to have both positive and negative effects. The study found that more acculturated Latino adolescents exhibited higher rates of problem behavior. The causes included higher exposure to discrimination and negative stereotypes, a greater susceptibility to peer pressure, and lessening family cohesiveness as traditional values were lost and parental authority waned. Because the adolescents adjusted more rapidly then their parents, the values they absorbed from their environment clashed with those they were taught at home, causing parent-child alienation and youth maladjustment. Those less acculturated may remain invested in traditional values of respect and familial harmony, while those more adjusted may worsen relations with the more direct communication valued in the United States. However, acculturation may not be the only cause of conflict among Latino generations. As adolescents age, they naturally demand more autonomy, and this will cause conflict, though in these cases there is the added factor of rejection of traditions. This new independence is more cultivated under more highly acculturated parents, who tend to be less involved and monitoring. Because English proficiency is viewed as the best marker of acculturation, children of less adjusted parents have the added stress of acting as translators and interpreters from a young age. In this case, parents with higher levels of English proficiency, and thus acculturation, would benefit their children by obviating this role, as well as being able to obtain more resources and facilitate…

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Developmental Assessment

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Performing a developmental assessment on children from infancy to adolescence is vital for the future health and development of the child. A developmental assessment should be performed on the child when a more in-depth assessment is needed on an individual who may be experiencing a developmental delay or problem. The developmental assessment will help assist providers to identify children who may need an intervention, and differentiating them form children who are experiencing a normal verse abnormal variation in development to guide the plan of care and manage the child's concerns. The developmental assessment will confirm a developmental problem, identify the type of problem, explain the level of functioning in one or more developmental…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    acetic acid by the liver (Freudenrich). A person becomes “drunk” when an excess of alcohol is…

    • 3462 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Bacon, Bruce MD. "What are the Myths vs. Facts About Alcohol & the Liver?" New York: American Liver Foundation. 2003…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Family Assessment Paper

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages

    However, if it were possible to interact with the family, the family assessment form (FAF) would be a great assessment tool. Assessing a LGBT middle adolescence youth’s bio-psycho-social is an important part of the social worker-client relationship. A dimension of the FAF that will need particular attention to when assessing LGBT middle adolescence youth would be Section D: caregiver/child interactions (Children’s Bureau of Southern California, 1997). D9 and D10 would be very important when assessing LGBT middle adolescence youth and their family. D9 views the caregiver’s ability to make desires known as well as the ability to foster the child’s understanding and communication abilities (Children’s Bureau of Southern California, 1997). D10, on the other hand, discusses the child’s verbal or nonverbal ability to communicate needs and feelings to caregivers (Children’s Bureau of Southern California, 1997).…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish?” shows a cultural and generational gap between the narrator and her daughter. Each culture is different around the world, and poses some differences, yet are similar in many ways. People, around the world, live as the way they should according to their societies. What is the definition of family in this day and age? A group who are blood related. Family is a set of individuals who take care of each other, and live under one roof. Jen presents a story of a mixed culture, and the differences between the narrator and her family. The narrator of the story differs from her son-in-law and his family. She has different beliefs from her Irish in laws. Besides the cultural differences, there…

    • 1035 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics