Masculinity and Gender in Greek Cinema: 1949-1967

Between the end of the Civil War (1949) and the colonels' military coup (1967) Greece underwent tremendous political, economic, and social transformations which influenced gender identities and relations. During the same period, Greece also witnessed an unparalleled bloom in cinema productions. Based on the recently established paradigm that cinema and popular culture viewed as social institutions can inform a historical study, Masculinity and Gender in Greek Cinema explores the relationship between Greek cinema and the society within which it was created and viewed.

The book's double analytical perspective on cinema and masculinity advances both the study of cinema and popular culture as historical sources, and of masculinity and gender relations as valid categories of historical analysis. Cinema as a medium of representation, not only managed to reflect on these issues, it also provided a whole new field for their interpretation. This is the first study to explore the dramatic transformation of masculinity and gender roles, as represented in Greek cinema during the turbulent 1950s and 1960s.

Achilleas Hadjikyriacou is a Scientific Officer at the Research Promotion Foundation in Cyprus (RPF). Hadjikyriacou received his doctorate from the European University Institute, Florence in 2010. His academic interests focus on gender history, history of masculinity, history and popular culture, visual sources in history and the history of Greek Cinema. During his undergraduate and postgraduate studies, he received several awards, distinctions, research grants and scholarships from Cypriot, Greek and international organisations. Most importantly, in 2012 he was awarded the James Kaye Memorial Prize for the best PhD thesis on history and visuality for the period 2009-11. Hadjikyriacou has presented numerous papers in international conferences and published articles in peer-reviewed international journals and edited volumes. Before his employment at the RPF, Hadjikyriacou worked as a part-time Lecturer of Modern European History at the European University of Cyprus and as a part-time Lecturer in Ethics at Varna Free University (Cyprus branch). Also, he is an approved instructor for the Certified Professional Managers Program, offered by the Institute of Certified Professional Managers (ICPM), James Madison University, USA.

Acknowledgements/Notes for the reader /Prologue
Chapter 1: Masculinity and gender relations in Greece: 1949-1967
Greece as presented by social anthropologists /Anthropological views of gender: An incomplete picture
Greek society in transition and change /Redefining gender relations /Youth: Opportunities, challenges, continuities and new cultures /Rethinking masculinity and gender in post-war Greek society
Chapter 2: Greek cinema: 1949-1967
Towards a Greek Hollywood: Films, audiences, and companies in post-war Greece /The role of the state
Reflections of social change /Greek popular films: Actors, genres, themes, and characters /Masculinities, femininities and the rise of a local star-system /Youth in films: The representation of a crisis /Rethinking masculinity, gender and the development of Greek Cinema
Chapter 3. Masculinity and locality: Rural Vs. Urban gender identities
Behind the main story: Representing rural and urban societies /Honour, shame and the ‘omnipresent neighbourhood /Breaking the context...or not? /Subordinating hegemonies: Masculinity in crisis
‘Primitive violence /Rethinking masculinity and locality
Chapter 4. Money, pride or both? Masculinity and class
Idealizing the working-classes, demonizing the upper-classes /Class transition: Shifting between hegemony and subordination /Re-negotiating tradition in the view of a problematic modernity /Leading men to crisis: A female task /Rethinking masculinity and class
Chapter 5. Modern Men: Masculinity and the challenges of a new age
Profitable bodies: Embodying a new morality /Challenging ‘undisputed hierarchies /A generation gap in Greece./ Women as agents of change /Conflicting typologies: The traditional, the modern and the ‘in-betweens /Rethinking masculinity and modernity
Epilogue
APPENDIX
Primary sources
Bibliography
Index