When a crisis hits, whether internal or external, one can easily be stripped of everything of value: security, livelihood, family and home. Without these integral pieces, it is impossible to be the same, only a shadow of what once was. Dr. Katerina Zacharia, professor of Classics at Loyola Marymount University, questions, “How can you retain your sense of self in the context of a crisis?” (Zacharia 2017). What happens to a person after they are bombarded with trauma? What happens to societal constructs, ideas that shape individuals, when social rules— what used to work and what didn’t— no longer apply? Stuart Hall, in his book, Representation, explains, “The meaning is not in the object or person or thing, nor is it in the word. It is we who fix the meaning so firmly that, after a while, it comes to seem natural and inevitable […] Of course, there must be some fixing of meaning in language or we would never be able to understand one another” (Representation 2013: 7-9). This means that when a meaning becomes unfixed, something that happens during a period of trauma, it appears to be a defiance in nature, and while it is common for meaning to fluctuate, meaning is necessary to not only understand oneself, but society entirely. Without a meaning to grasp onto, the world becomes unknown. Rising in the late 2000s, the economic crisis of Greece distorted not just the individual but the country’s meaning and purpose, forever affecting their identity. Several Greek artists submitted films to the 2017 Los Angeles Greek Festival, expressing their thoughts and emotions to the public in response. Just as the economic crisis has undoubtedly affected their lives, it has affected their art, granting their audiences with authentic accounts of the tragedy currently ongoing in Greece.
The Economic Crisis caused unemployment in Greece to sky-rocket. Trading Economics analyzes Greece’s Unemployment from 1998-2017. In July 2013, it reached 27.9 percent, the highest it has been, a particularly striking number when compared to the record low of 7.3 percent in May 2008. And while the unemployment rate has improved, the percentage of people looking but without jobs consistently stays above the 20 percent mark. To put this in perspective, during the United States’ Great Depression, 24.75 percent was the highest the unemployment rate escalated to (United States History). Also devastating, is the high unemployment of Greek youths. As of January 2017, the unemployment for them is 48 percent, but was even 60 percent in 2013. These statistics only further perpetuate a grim future. Because of these difficult circumstances, unsurprisingly, Greece’s mental health suffers. The article, “The Relationship Between the Meaning in Life, Emotions, and Psychological Illness: The Moderating Role of the Effects of the Economic Crisis,” which was published in the European Journal of Counseling Psychology, discusses mental illness in the context of the Greek Economic Crisis. The authors state, “that the percentage of people with psychiatric problems was two times higher among the unemployed (34%), compared to the employed (16%)” (RBMLEPI 2016: 78), and severe financial difficulties, whether unemployed or not, impact mental well being in negative way. They also explain, “The economic crisis affects the life and the self-concept of people, who realize that they have to face and cope with issues […] The practical and emotional consequences of the crisis are negatively related to presence of meaning, life satisfaction[…]” (RBMLEPI 2016: 77). Crisis, contextually, the Economic Crisis, forces one to question one’s purpose and how they fit into the world, something only intensified by the desperation and fear that it invokes.
Vassilis Mazomenos’ dramatic feature, Lines (Run Time: 85 Minutes), powerfully expresses what happens to a person when their identity is taken from them. The film follows multiple people as they struggle through the remnants of their lives left by the economic crisis. Although they try to find solace in the form of the “Help Line” they call, it is ultimately to no avail, something even the line operator realizes himself. To the operator, one man voices, “Things are slipping through my fingers. I can’t control them anymore. They are falling apart. I’m losing years of my life. In a few days… I’ll be lost too” (Lines 2016). This Greek citizen, because of the crisis he faces, feels like he is losing himself, and that he no longer has control over his life, lacking the power to improve it. Another consequence of the crisis Mazomenos illustrates, is the emphasis and redefinitions of the power binary. Stuart Hall, in his book, Representation, states, “There is always a relation of power between the poles of a binary opposition [Derrida, 1972] (Representations 2013: 225). This is a powerful theme as with Lines, not only does a person’s position on the binary invert to the subservient, but the feud between the power positions becomes strikingly more prominent (This is a heavy subject that takes place in Yannis Sakaridis’ feature, Amerika Square, which will be discussed later in this blog). For instance, one of the people Lines follows is a woman named Anna, who explains to the Line Operator, “I kick people out. I fire them […] It’s either me or them!” (Lines 2016). Anna, wanting to keep her own livelihood must terminate the livelihoods of others. She has the power, and she needs to do whatever she can to keep it, as it is a matter of survival, a place where compassion is scarce. However, due to the intensity of the Economic Crisis, not even Anna, whose job for the company is to fire, is safe from her own occupational authority. She becomes the fired and loses everything.
Another instance of this inversion lies with scenes following the police officer, Ari. He is unfocused and separate from the police squadron, forcing the squad leader to confront him. He says to him, “I told you, we’re family, it’s us against them” (Lines 2016). “Us against them” is a nearly identical phrase to what Anna expresses to the Line Operator, solidifying the impact this crisis has on separating groups of people. However, in the following scene, when his squadron is faced with protestors, Ari strips down all his armor, all his clothes. By doing this, Ari shows solidarity with the protestors by becoming vulnerable like them, and unlike Anna, willingly chooses to subvert the power binary. Both these examples thoroughly express the deterioration of identities due to the crisis. The firer becomes the fired, the police officer becomes the weak and vulnerable. This theme of purpose and power erosion, the divesting of social identity, traces the story of each individual in Lines-- from a grandfather no longer being able to care for his grandson and thus killing himself, to the President of Greece publicly renouncing his strength by ripping off his clothes and being pulled off camera. And tragically, Vassilis Mazomenos ends his film with no hope in sight, for any of these individuals. While the mental illness of these people may not be easily defined, it is clear that they all suffer from a loss of power, sense of purpose in life and optimism for a better future, causes that are very detrimental to one’s mind and identity.
Though Lines is a strong representation of the people of Greece suffering through the Economic Crisis, other films by Greek filmmakers utilize other forms of crisis to reveal what happens to a person when their identity is torn apart. For instance, Alexander Zwart’s, “You’ve Made Your Bed, Now Lie in It,” (Run Time: 15 Min.) provides a thought provoking experience of a crisis and its effects on a person when Knut, an elderly farmer, discovers that he will die in three days, according to the acclaimed psychic, Aksel. Knut begins to prepare for his demise, and unwilling to let his estranged brother have his farm as inheritance, he sabotages it by setting free his animals and destroying his farmhouse where he built his tomb and awaits his death. However, Aksel confused his premonition on who was to die— not Knut, but his neighbor. When he hears the news of Aksel’s mistake, Knut returns back to his tomb, ignoring Aksel’s calls, “At least you’re still alive!” (“You’ve Made Your Bed, Now Lie in It” 2016). Although Knut escaped the fate of losing his life, he lost what made his life worth living. Because of this, in his eyes, he may as well be dead, his life now without reason.
Thelyia Petraki’s short, “Helga is in Lund,” (Run Time: 20 Minutes) tells the story of a woman who develops a malady of the mind after her ailing father dies, and she resorts to seeking out a psychiatrist. Her illness, seemingly a mixture of paranoia and the fear of losing control, derives from regret, as she arrived at the hospital too late in time to say goodbye to her father before he passed. Her haunting past and her present illness have several parallels, no doubt because her guilt of missing her father’s death trickles through. For instance, she now has an extreme fear of being late to things, always arriving early, because she missed her father’s death. When talking with her therapist, she explains, “It’s like my very own skin is making fun of me, Doctor” (“Helga Is in Lund” 2016). She says this when she is describing her inability to control her facial expressions. This is very similar to what her father goes through as he is mostly likely suffering from a form of dementia. Just as his daughter cannot smile properly, he cannot bathe himself, he does not even have perception of reality, something made clear when his daughter asks him if she is an astronaut which he responds to in the affirmative. However, this lack of control also has to deal with the uncertainty she feels about who she is following the traumatic decay of her father and his eventual death. She states, “I don’t know what I should and shouldn’t do. What is right and what is not. It’s like someone else has taken control of my body” (“Helga Is in Lund” 2016). Due to this crisis and plagued with these anxieties, the woman loses the ability to move forward according to who she is as a person.
Thelyia Petraki’s short, “Helga is in Lund,” (Run Time: 20 Minutes) tells the story of a woman who develops a malady of the mind after her ailing father dies, and she resorts to seeking out a psychiatrist. Her illness, seemingly a mixture of paranoia and the fear of losing control, derives from regret, as she arrived at the hospital too late in time to say goodbye to her father before he passed. Her haunting past and her present illness have several parallels, no doubt because her guilt of missing her father’s death trickles through. For instance, she now has an extreme fear of being late to things, always arriving early, because she missed her father’s death. When talking with her therapist, she explains, “It’s like my very own skin is making fun of me, Doctor” (“Helga Is in Lund” 2016). She says this when she is describing her inability to control her facial expressions. This is very similar to what her father goes through as he is mostly likely suffering from a form of dementia. Just as his daughter cannot smile properly, he cannot bathe himself, he does not even have perception of reality, something made clear when his daughter asks him if she is an astronaut which he responds to in the affirmative. However, this lack of control also has to deal with the uncertainty she feels about who she is following the traumatic decay of her father and his eventual death. She states, “I don’t know what I should and shouldn’t do. What is right and what is not. It’s like someone else has taken control of my body” (“Helga Is in Lund” 2016). Due to this crisis and plagued with these anxieties, the woman loses the ability to move forward according to who she is as a person.
Faced with a crisis, the attributes that once secured a person in their reality, in their long developed, intricately designed identities— are pulled right out from under them. How can a daughter be a daughter without a parent? How can a farmer be a farmer without a farm? How can a President lead a scared and confused nation without the hope for a better day? When a social construct or other identity attribute is taken away, meaning alters, even more strikingly when it is taken unexpectedly. The individuals in these films have lost everything. What is one to do, when one loses their meaning and purpose? How can one move forward?
Now What?