National identity in Greek cinema : gender representation and Rebetiko.

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.