Σεμνά και Ταπεινά

I mean, I’ve never rl taken any personal offense at it and it’s not sth that bothers me greatly bc I know that it’s difficult to let go of stereotypes and also bc it’s become obvious that many ppl in the movie industry stopped trying decades ago. I just find it obnoxious sometimes and downright lazy that someone would rather stick with a characterization that’s been beaten to death and that can be borderline painful to watch, rather than try to do an extra 5 minutes of research and present sth much more appealing and on point. And that applies to any character of X nationality in media, not just the Greek ones. 

But generally, what I think most ppl in the industry do wrong is that they always try to mold their ““foreign”” (idk how else to say it, I’m sorry) characters into this like …. stereotypical idea of what they’re supposed to be like based on their nationality or ethnicity, while forgetting that yes, you can be Greek and share X and Y traits with other Greek ppl, but you’re also your own person. You’re not just Greek. You exist outside of your nationality or ethnicity in that, you are an individual with your own distinct personality. Idk if that makes any sense, but it saddens me when I see a character in a movie or series or w/e and their entire personality could be summarized in one single word - their nationality or ethnicity, basically. Oh and also their religion. It’s sad and ridiculous and unrealistic bc ppl are multi-dimensional and complex yet they often seem to be reduced to those things alone. 

Ok so, I obviously have a lot of beef with the global movie industry so I’m gonna try and answer this properly before I get sidetracked again lmao. It doesn’t bother me greatly per se, I just find it sad and lazy and a waste of a good potential characterization.

 Also, I know I’ve talked abt this before, but the concept and perception of race vary a lot from place to place. Greek ppl are generally considered to be white but within Europe, “whiteness” is perceived a lot differently than in say, the US. There’s this rl great post going around abt this very topic, which I hope I’ll be able to find and include in this response (found it!) but generally, seeing how modern Greeks can originate from a plethora of different ethnic backgrounds, there’s a million different ways a Greek person could look like. Seriously, there’s Greeks who could easily pass as Northern or Western Europeans (we have quite a lot of blond ppl too y’all, believe it or not) and there’s Greeks who could easily pass as Middle Easterns. It’s not inaccurate or offensive to cast a very ““white-looking”” or w/e actor as a Greek character but generally speaking yes, it would be just as accurate to cast a darker skinned one too (although we all know what that normally leads to lmao Greek nationalists lost their fucking shit when they learned that black actors were cast for Troy: Fall of a City, like it was the end of the fucking world or sth).

Anyway, I know this is very long and probably completely incomprehensible, but those are my two cents. There aren’t that many Greek characters in foreign media anyway, so it’s not a problem we have to deal with that often. We just have a good laugh every time Hollywood decides to shit out another movie abt ancient Greek history and/or mythology and that’s p much it.