The Owl's Legacy: Misogyny, or the Snares of Desire
Romance
•
26m
Directed by Chris Marker • Documentary • 1989 • 26 minutes
“Greek love, Greek eroticism, is a paradigm for us. But it’s something about which we are very hypocritical.” --John Winkler
Classicist Giulia Sissa takes center stage in this episode, which explores desire in ancient Greece (primarily Athens), the social status of women, and the erasure of women by classics scholars.
Homosexual and heterosexual relationships co-existed, each within their own spheres. Any notions of romantic love resided with same-sex relationships, which were also seen as rites of passage for boys initiated into the ways of philosophy. Marriage was a different story—with the father as head of the household, and the mother akin to a child or subject. (Angelique Ionatos says she takes little comfort in the notion that a woman was queen within the household.) While the Greeks celebrated some forms of desire, they also recognized it as an omni-present and potentially powerful source of destruction.
Up Next in Romance
-
The Maids (w/ Vivien Merchant, Susann...
Directed by Christopher Miles • Drama • With Vivien Merchant , Susannah York , Glenda Jackson • 1975 • 94 minutes
Jean Genet, one of the most celebrated creative minds of the 20th century, receives an unbridled, expertly cinematic rendering in this long unseen film based on his perverse play. Th...
-
August at Akiko's
Directed by Christopher Makoto Yogi • Drama • With Alex Zhang Hungtai, Akiko Masuda • 2019 • 75 minutes
Armed with just his suitcase and a sax, cosmopolitan musician Alex Zhang Hungtai (from the band Dirty Beaches) returns home to the Big Island of Hawaii having been away for nearly a decade. Hu...
-
A Teacher
Directed by Hannah Fidell • Drama • With Lindsay Burdge, Will Brittain • 2012 • 76 minutes
Part psychological thriller and part provocative character study, A TEACHER explores the unraveling of a young high school teacher, Diana (Lindsay Burdge), after she begins an affair with one of her teenag...
