Vol.8, No.2 | [Article] From Dogtooth to Little England: Family and Female Characters in Greek Cinema of the Early Twenty-First Century

This essay aims to explore representations of the female in familial contexts in the Greek cinematic production of the early twenty-first century through a multilayered discussion of two popular films, Yiorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth” and Pantelis Voulgaris’ “Little England”, released in 2009 and 2013 respectively. The films have been selected as representative of two major generations/waves of Greek cinema: that of a postmodern/psychoanalytical approach that emerged in the decade of intense Europeanization up to the period surrounding the economic crisis (1999-2009), and that of the sociopolitical discourses which dominated the post-junta era (1974 onwards). Although a chronological distance of more than half a century separates the stories narrated in the films, young female subjects are presented in equally suffocating family environments. The discussion revolves around both thematic and aesthetic comparisons between the two works, in the light of research
investigating dominant features of the family in Greece and the broader Mediterranean.

Keywords: Family, Gender, Youth, Contemporary Greek Film, Mediterranean