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Reviews
The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
My reflections in terms of cultural items in the movie
The film sets in South Africa and the Kalahari Desert. There is a tribe named as Bushmen and they live very primitive and uncivilized life there. They have no knowledge of the world beyond. Besides they actually learn how to adapt and live in nature and rules of the law of the jungle becomes their culture. The main character is Xi. He is actually very kind and smart man when you examine him in his culture because he apologizes when he kills an animal also he and the member of the tribe are like this; they are so respectful to Mother Nature. They think that everything is given them as a gift from Gods. In this sense, life is simple to live; without law, violence, or turmoil. This quiet, uncomplicated life is better than the fast- paced, complicated world of technology. The climax of the film is when the Coke bottle falls from the plane. It was nothing for a pilot yet this bottle will be a really big problem for the tribe because they have never seen something like that before. At the beginning they very like it and discover its usage in many fields. For instance, they start using it to play music, flay the snakeskin, make headbands and beat things. It becomes a tool that everybody wants because no one has seen it before. They quickly discover emotions: ownership, jealousy, anger, hate, and it takes away their innocence. Xi's people have never known greed, anger, or aggression. Those are sins of a world that allows its members to "own" things. This is the very big problem here. Thus, Xi finally decides that the bottle is an "Evil thing", and it should be thrown the edge of the world. Then he starts his long trip. In the meantime, there is a woman who is a teacher. Kate comes from civilized city and tries to help kids in South Africa. Also, we have a clumsy biologist. During the film, he tries to express his feelings to Kate but due to his clumsiness, unlucky events find them. Life of those characters is so boring for me after seeing Xi's because he is very isolated and pure in terms of the rat race that others do all the time. For instance, people fight for having more foods, guns, money on the other hand Xi doesn't. First encounter is really dramatic because everything around him comes so strange. Xi thinks that Kate and biologist man are Gods because they are so different from him in terms of their color of skin, clothes, and hair. He tries to give Coke bottle to them but they don't accept because it means nothing more than a trash for them. After that Xi gets angry because he cannot understand why they don't take the thing they give and he thinks 'gods must be crazy'. I think the name of the film refers two things first thing can be this. Second thing is that Gods are crazy because they send an evil bottle to his tribe but according to him Gods do an only good thing for humankind that's why he can call them a crazy. Apart from that, the reaction of those people to Xi is so weird for me. For example, a kid shepherding reacts so mean but the kid is also right because Xi tries to kill his sheep but because of the cultural difference and language they misunderstood each other. Actually, only thing that Xi wants is to eat and he thinks that sheep herd belongs to nature and Gods that's why he kills. Also, he says to the kid that they could eat together if the kid was hungry like him. I can refer that technology has bad effects on culture because we forget our values and humanity sometimes. After staying a week in jail because of killing a sheep of community biologist and local man want to get out of Xi because he is not accustomed to staying closed place in his culture. They rescue him and start to travel with Xi. At the end of the film, they all have to rescue Kate and kids from theorists. This part of the film is the most enjoyable and interesting part because these three men from very different cultures start to find solutions in their ways. Also, they get to benefit from the culture they lie in to rescue people for example biologist is aware of the hunting skills of Xi and he knows that Xi can easily camouflage. They rescue Kate and kids in cooperation and Xi finally find the edge of the world (he thinks a cliff), he throws 'evil bottle' to the Gods back.
Gurbetçi Saban (1985)
My reflections in terms of cultural items in the movie
Review of Gurbetçi Şaban
This film mainly mentions immigration effect on society and specifically, it touches on what kind of cultural conflicts occurs when Turkish people live there and how they get over culture shock. Protagonist Şaban is a poor and wretch man traveling to Germany to find a job and earn money. He is also gracious and pure in a hearth. He falls in love with Bahar who is traveling to Germany too on the same bus. In a short span of time, Şaban will marry to Bahar. After coming to German and looking for a job, one day he encounters a man offering a good job to him. He accepts the job but his German boss Hans who is a supporter of Adolf Hitler is so bully and racist that he makes them work in very hard conditions. Şaban's lover Bahar studies in the same factory also. Hans misbehaved her too and wants to take Bahar as a maid for his family. Şaban gets mad for this situation and decides to take revenge from Germans. Şaban is poor and pure in heart as well as he is a smart and fox man so he decides to get so many children supports from German government by using the opportunity of the same name and surnames which is 'Şaban Yıldız'. Thanks to the amount of this money he thinks an extra job for him. He starts with buying a cow then he expands his business, on the other hand, Hans loses money due to gambling. After a while, Şaban becomes a rich businessman and takes the opportunity of teaching to Germans a big life lesson. Seeing how Hans is in tough times, Şaban offers him to be a shareholder. Then, he starts to do everything that Germans did before. After finishing summary of the film, I want to mention stereotypical images, ideas and certain behaviors regarding both Germans and Turks perspectives by the way of analyzing three important characters; Main character Şaban is successfully adapted to German culture even though he sometimes allegories to it because he is obviously misbehaved or overcharged by Germans that's why he sometimes calls them as a 'giaour'. To be honest, I justified him most of the time because he is expat there and it is normal that he can think little bit nationalistic in terms of environment. Also, I observed that main aim of Şaban is to help Turks in Hans's factory because he is so cruel to Turks. Apart from this Şaban generalizes 'real man has only sons' ironically most of his kids are girls. Second character Hans behaves Turks as if they were a slave to the German government. Also, he does not even give their salary they deserve and moreover, Hans called people as stupid because Germans regard that Turks are lowerclassman. Stereotypical idea of Germans is Turks are generally stupid people. In the movie Germans think that Turks can only work for them, they don't have the ability to guide in Germans' business because they don't have enough money to do that also most of the workers don't have residence permit so Germans use this weakness for the benefit of them. Third character Bahar stays in a very crowded and multi-cultural home which has so many social problems before marrying to Şaban. For instance, Algerian and Greeks and Turkish stay in the same home Thus, so many problems occur like fighting for even toilet's turn. Bahar's stereotypical idea is that Greek women are generally vixenish because she lives and stays with them by seeing their behaviors and altitudes and Greeks women are generally fighting or shouting each other. To sum up, I can infer that there are acculturation and cultural transmission between German and Turkish cultures but not in volunteer way. Both sides try to impose their culture uneasily. For instance, replacing Adolf's picture with Atatürk's and changing Germans' food habits in the factory with Turkish foods. These are all can be given as examples.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
My opinions about the movie
*** This review contains spoilers ***
My Big Fat Greek Wedding Review There is a big family who lives in Chicago even though they all are brought up to be strictly Greek. Father of the family is Gus which is very racist of Greek and her daughter and other members of the family are Voula, Yiayia, Maria, Nick Portokalos living the same home together. Our main character Toula Portokalas is a woman who is 30 years and not married yet. She lives in America but grows in the totally Greek family. Her father is so Greek that he can even turn 'kimono' means into Greek version. Toula has a brother and sister. Her sister is a traditional Greek woman who has many kids and a Greek husband, on the other hand, Toula hasn't. Her parents want her to marry with Greek man and has kids as far as possible like her sister, but she is little bit introverted and shy person until she meets with Ian Miller who is an American man Miller Ian. Miller Ian's life and background are a little bit different from Toula's. He has very small and separated family when I compare with the Greek family. His parents are not obsessive of racism or religion. Also, Miller does not care about Toula at the beginning of the movie because of her strange appearance and altitude but later Toula starts to be a real woman then she grabs Miller's attention. When they are together I observed that different background and lifestyle of Toula makes her attractive and irresistible to Miller. The more they date the more they get closer which means Families need to meet but Greek family and American family are totally different from each other. Thus, Toula and Miller have a really difficult job in terms of cultures conflict. Taula was going to introduce Miller to her family but one relative sees them together in the car while they are kissing. Then all family hear it and come home. Taula's father gets mad that Miller is not a Greek man and does not accept him as a groom. After that day, Family starts to look for different grooms but Taula still loves Miller so much and Miller introduces her to his family. She looks so nervous because Miller's parents are not talkative and lively like her parents. Also, they cannot even pronounce Taula's surname because it is so long and they are not accustomed to hearing it in their daily life but at least they respect her and accept her as a bride. Then Taula's family is persuaded because they see that her little daughter really loves Miller and wants to marry only with him. Miller, Taula, and parents come together and celebrate Easter. In this part of the film, I realized that Miller feels so happy with this strange and noisy family because he has not a family like that. After celebrity, in a short span of time they marry and Father Gus buy them a house as a wedding gift. In my opinion, 'house' is a symbol and it represents that Greek family really adopt and accept him to their big family. The movie ends like this now I want to write about culture concept in this movie. As far as I observe that Greek's daily life and expectations are the same as ours. For example, someone says 'I prepared moussaka tonight for you'. I really know that this is actually our food. This is probably because of so many interactions of two different cultures. The more Greek and Turkish cultures conflict and interact, the more our cultures get similar to each other as we observe here, on the other hand, American's culture is very different from Greek culture. The American family is a little bit calm and they don't live in big families as Greek and Turkish families. Apart from this, the structure of the family is also the same with Greek people. For example, Greek family is also crowded and depended on each other like us. They live together in the same house. Even the altitude of the mother is same. For example, Turkish mother acts as if the guest was starving even though S/he is not. This is because both cultures are welcoming to guests. It was like that in the movie. Until this movie, I have never known that Turkish and Greek cultures are close like this. Another similarity is getting married off. In Turkey, if you are mature people who have a great job, you need to marry with someone like in the movie. Until this movie, I guess that we are the only ones supporting marriage after a particular age, but I think it is good to hear other voices. Other similarities between two cultures are music. I feel like I am watching a Turkish series. Especially in the wedding ceremony, the tone is very Islamic and they say 'amin' instead of 'amen'. Also Greeks like eating meat like us that's why they feel shocked when they hear that Miller is vegetarian. I learned that Greek and Turkish cultures are so similar with the help of this movie. To sum up, people from different background and cultures can get on well with each other and people should not be prejudged. As far as I observe If you are racist and nationalist to people maybe you cannot realize and see the good part of them. As Gus says Toula can be 'Portokalos' which means orange and Miller can be 'apple' but they are all fruits.