Greece in the Imagination of Western Authors
Greece in the Imagination of Western Authors
The Island Fantasy
The male fantasy of being deserted on an island inhabited predominantly by women, old men and children is explored thoroughly in both Mediterraneo and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. The gendered roles assigned to the invading soldiers as the strong male occupiers of a surprisingly feminized portrayal of the subjugated island are the crux of both the narratives. In both Mediterraneo and Corelli’s Mandolin the respective Greek Islands of Cephallonia and an unnamed magical island in the Aegean Sea, are depicted as feminine and motherly icons that are consequently violated by the Italian aggressors who arrive on the island in their effort to escape from the patriarchal political bindings of their leader.
This is not to say that pre-occupation these islands lacked a male presence. There are important figures littered throughout the movies and the book. Dr. Iannis and Mandras in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, the priest in Mediterraneo all represent important male characters that in some part add to the background and set up of the respective stories. The difference however is that the female characters are the defining ones for both the novel and the movies. Vassilissa and Pelagia, Mandras’ mother Drosoula, are the “…primary envoys of Greece”. These women directly represent the giving nature that the islands themselves are guilty of. The Italian forces are given full advantage of the Islands bounty and the women offer themselves up as such as well.
Indeed the evolution of the beautiful and intelligent Pelagia from child to mother, in the film, is indicated by her initial depiction as one “embodying perpetual girlhood,” smiling, laughing, having lighthearted arguments with her father, to becoming the “"monumental, stern, silent" Mediterranean archetype” , not unlike Mandras’ mother who is constantly chastising and beating her adult son for his adolescent foolishness. Pelagia’s actions in relation to
The Island Fantasy
The male fantasy of being deserted on an island inhabited predominantly by women, old men and children is explored thoroughly in both Mediterraneo and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. The gendered roles assigned to the invading soldiers as the strong male occupiers of a surprisingly feminized portrayal of the subjugated island are the crux of both the narratives. In both Mediterraneo and Corelli’s Mandolin the respective Greek Islands of Cephallonia and an unnamed magical island in the Aegean Sea, are depicted as feminine and motherly icons that are consequently violated by the Italian aggressors who arrive on the island in their effort to escape from the patriarchal political bindings of their leader.
This is not to say that pre-occupation these islands lacked a male presence. There are important figures littered throughout the movies and the book. Dr. Iannis and Mandras in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, the priest in Mediterraneo all represent important male characters that in some part add to the background and set up of the respective stories. The difference however is that the female characters are the defining ones for both the novel and the movies. Vassilissa and Pelagia, Mandras’ mother Drosoula, are the “…primary envoys of Greece”. These women directly represent the giving nature that the islands themselves are guilty of. The Italian forces are given full advantage of the Islands bounty and the women offer themselves up as such as well.
Indeed the evolution of the beautiful and intelligent Pelagia from child to mother, in the film, is indicated by her initial depiction as one “embodying perpetual girlhood,” smiling, laughing, having lighthearted arguments with her father, to becoming the “"monumental, stern, silent" Mediterranean archetype” , not unlike Mandras’ mother who is constantly chastising and beating her adult son for his adolescent foolishness. Pelagia’s actions in relation to