Friday 2 July 2010

The widow seeks her goat in the Kephenion - from "Zorba The Greek" (1964)

"You know how they treat widows." spoken in coversation in the kaphenion in Chapter 9 of Captain Corelli's Mandolin.


Note how in Chapter 9 of CCM how politics is argued over and how it creates divisions between Stamatis, Kokolios and Dr. Iannis. What unites these characters of different viewpoints towards the end of this chapter and why are they united in this way?

The Widow (Irene Papas) looks for her goat which the "mangas" have sadistically hidden in the Kaphenion. The coffee house in "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" seems less threatening but it is still a place in which the men gather to drink coffee and smoke while talking politics, business, etc. Women are not expected to enter. And it seems, The Widow, like Pelagia, keeps at least one goat. Set in Crete, "Zorba The Greek" has several disturbing scenes which depict cruel, patriarchal attitudes in Greece, particularly on its islands, before growing commercialism softened them from the late 1960s.

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I teach Film, Media and English Lit.