Re-defining Our World
“Each film has its own symbolic, semiotic and cultural dimension. What is actually presented on screen is the result of a process in which various social, cultural, political and economical parameters play an important role.” -Achilleas Hadjikyriacou
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A Woman's New RoleIn 2017, Anastasia Vaitsopoulou, a writer for AthensLive, went out to interview people across the globe to record the most common assumptions and stereotypes they had about Greek men versus Greek women. The top three adjectives used to describe Greek men included: hedonistic, greedy, and proud. The top adjectives recorded to describe Greek women included: mysterious, talkative, and emotional. It’s no secret that stark differences exist between the expectations of men and women. Whether these differences pertain to job expectations, social norms, or even personality traits- cultures across the globe continue to designate women and men into specific categories. So how does a society attempt to tackle these gender-specific constraints that have been in place throughout the past several centuries? Perhaps one way, is through film and media.
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Women in Film
Three Greek films released in the 2019 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival that explore and attempt to fracture gender stereotype expectations include Pause (Tonia Mishiali, 2018, 96 mins.), Her Job (Nikos Labot, 2018, 90 mins.), and Flickering Souls Set Alight (Iakovos Panagopoulos, 2019, 29 mins.). By examining the way one specific event can transform our entire lives in a single instant, the three feature films examine the fragility of life, the complexity of self-discovery, and the additional complications and hardships of living in a world still recuperating from the disastrous effects of a financial crisis.
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