Movie Review

 Movie Review
1
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
In order for counsellors to help their clients evaluate their values in either work or
personal issues, they make them look towards both their values and interests. In a study
conducted by Neville and Saber (1986), it was found that “values are the objectives sought in
behaviour, whereas interests are the activities in which values are sought.” Therefore, values
determine why an individual may undertake a certain activity, whereas interests dictate what a
person chooses to do. It has also been suggested that values are more correlated with work
satisfaction (Rounds, 1990) as opposed to interests, which are more connected to the choices
one may make in their career. The film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, broaches the subject of
values in a very intricate manner. The protagonist, Toula Portokalos, is brought up on three
essential values; `Marry a Greek boy, have Greek babies, and feed everyone.‟ As a result, she
begins to resent everything Greek, as she feels that being Greek has overtaken everything she
wants for herself. To the extent, that when she meets a man who is a regular American, she is
almost ashamed of disclosing the fact that she comes form a Greek family.
Dating a non-Greek and then eventually her decision to marry him evokes guilt within
her. This is because her parents have always taught her that marrying a Greek man and
inevitably bearing his children is one of the fundamental points to her existence, the reason
her parents had worked so hard to give her the comfortable life she has had. Therefore, she is
made to feel indebted to them. At this point, we see a classic incongruence between values
and interests. On the one hand, we have her intrinsic values, what she wants for herself,
personally, juxtaposed to the extrinsic values she needs to fulfil in order maintain her prestige,
status, etc. It is interesting to see how despite the fact that Toula resents the Greek values she
has been brought up with, it is her values that Ian, her fiancé, adopts when they decide to get
married. For example, he converts to her faith, the wedding and reception take place in the
Greek manner, and even at the end of the film, when they have a daughter, she is sent to 
Movie Review
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Greek school. Ian is depicted as a „WASP-ish‟ individual with a very middle-upper class upbringing. He comes from a family of lawyers and has rebelled against what is expected of him
by becoming a teacher and then by marrying a Greek. However, Ian doesn‟t demonstrate the
same guilt that is seen in Toula. In his academic study A Critical Analysis of Values
Clarification, David Lipe argues that Moral education generally has been regarded as an integral
part of institutions such as the family, the church and the school. This is very much evident in the film,
as both Toula and Ian seem to be products of their environments. Therefore, if this couple was to
receive counselling, the values that they have accumulated throughout their lives would be an integral
part of the process. This is because values are a direct reflection of our attitudes and therefore our
beliefs. For example, if we take Toula‟s love for Ian as an example, she is willing to work hard to
sustain that love, and to even make sacrifices. She has clearly learnt this ability from her mother, as
this is also conveyed within the film. This childhood value therefore becomes a pillar within her
personality. If a counsellor was to overlook this whilst counselling her, he would miss a vital
component to her personality and therefore risk prescribing the incorrect treatment for her.
Values can be assessed by either a values inventory or a values clarification, and
counsellors generally utilise these processes to treat people who feel confused or
uncomfortable with their values. Both treatments focus on the patient examining their internal
blueprint and direction of their lives. These processes provide the means to both be
retrospective and evaluating the values that have been instilled within us, which then in turn
aids us to set goals and prioritise. Both exercises are carried out in the form of a questionnaire
aimed specifically towards the individual‟s needs. This allows the patient to decide which
goals are important and which may be left aside. The clarification of our values would
inevitably help us to strengthen our core values and achieve a wholeness. Inevitably, for the
couple depicted in the film, this process would be vital if they were to ever need counselling.
As essentially, their values are what makes the essence of them.
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…References
http://www.apologeticspress.org/rr/reprints/Critical-Analysis-of-Values-Cla.pdf
retrieved 22/01/09
Hood, A.B. and Johnson, R.W. 1997, Assessment in Counselling: A Guide to the
use of psychological assessment procedures, American Counselling
Association, 3 ed.