Since the foundation of the modern Greek state in 1832 there has been a major controversy amongst Greeks as to what is truly Greek. Two central viewpoints stand out and form the two versions of the Greek national identity - the Hellenic and the Romeic. Each notion of Greekness is depicted by distinctively different characteristics in terms of its origins, mentality, behavioural norms, musical preferences as well as domestic and international relations. For most of the twentieth century the Hellenic and the Romeic were expressed through cultural discourses such as film and music. The purpose of this study is to examine the expression of these versions of Greek identity in Greek Cinema and the various ways in which this leads to gender representation. Three films are used as case studies: Stella (1955), Never on Sunday (1960) and Diplopennies (1966). Through musical, textual, sociological and historical analysis, the thesis identifies the ways in which the two notions of Greekness are portrayed in the films, primarily through the personification of these identities in the male and female protagonists. The thesis illustrates how these portrayals result in the engendering of the two identities and the attribution of gender traits to the main characters. Moreover, the study delineates how in Greek Cinema the musical genre Rebetiko became indissolubly associated with the Romeic identity and, indeed, its prime signifier. Rebetiko, through its association with the protagonists, contributes to their personification of the Romeic identity and, with its gendered traits, constitutes a central factor in the formation of gender in the films. Finally, the thesis elucidates how the film musical, the only film genre in Greek Cinema to be associated with the Hellenic identity, forms the battlefield on which the two identities confront each other and are expressed more distinctly and dramatically than in any other genre.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:544171 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Stavrinides, Christos |
| Publisher | University of Sheffield |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14994/ |
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