Supervisors info:
Μαρία Κομνηνού, Αναπληρώτρια καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Επικοινωνίας και ΜΜΕ, ΕΚΠΑ.
Summary:
The gay and lesbian approach to the cinematic culture has concerned many theorists since the beginning of the Stonewall rebellion in 1968. Therefore, in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s the term "queer," which used to be pejorative, gained a positive meaning as it was used to proclaim diversity. In this framework, the evolution of the "queer" term and therefore of the queer theory, that calls into question the heteronormal representations of gender and sex, constitutes the basic theoretical context of this thesis. In particular, it looks into queer cinema in America, Europe and Greece in order to draw conclusions about the culture of the queer cinema and its evolution, always taking into account the political conditions that influenced it. The main research objectives of this thesis are: a) the social, philosophical and technological developments that led to the emergence of the queer film movement; and b) the disrupted film norms as far as their context and content are concerned in order for this film sample to be included in the queer genre. In order to fulfill the research objectives, this thesis uses the following methological tools: The historic cinematic approach regarding the queer film movement in connection with the national film industry, and the queer approach combined with the formalistic approach through an exploratory case study. Based in this methodological framework, four films of the Greek cinema are examined: “Strella” (2009) and “Xenia” (2014) by Panos Koutras, “The Capsule” (2012) by Athena-Rachel Tsangari, and “Pigs” (2011) by Konstantina Kotzamani. The relative results of the primary research indicated the need of questioning the present heteronormal norms and defending diversity, the significance of producing queer artworks and their dissemination to a queer as well as a wider audience, and the contribution of the queer Greek cinema in enlarging the New Queer Cinema.
Keywords:
LGBTQI Movement, Greek Cinema, Queer Theory, New Queer Cinema
