Building on the notion of the Greek crisis as a discursive event and revisiting theories about the sociocultural role of television fiction, this chapter introduces the latter as a framing mechanism through which events of the social world are defined and assessed. By uncovering the dominant interpretative frames underlying the story, setting, characters and plot of the popular Greek television comedy Piso Sto Spiti (MEGA channel, 2011–2013), this analysis illustrates television fiction’s contribution to the construction of the root causes of the crisis as tied to the cultural traits of Greeks, the impossibility of change and the futility of an alternative, left-wing consideration of the crisis, as well as an attempt to morally assess the situation at hand.

Building on the notion of the Greek crisis as a discursive event and revisiting theories about the sociocultural role of television fiction, this chapter introduces the latter as a framing mechanism through which events of the social world are defined and assessed. By uncovering the dominant interpretative frames underlying the story, setting, characters and plot of the popular Greek television comedy Piso Sto Spiti (MEGA channel, 2011–2013), this analysis illustrates television fiction’s contribution to the construction of the root causes of the crisis as tied to the cultural traits of Greeks, the impossibility of change and the futility of an alternative, left-wing consideration of the crisis, as well as an attempt to morally assess the situation at hand.

Christopher Papakaliatis, a prominent figure in Greek television, propelled Greece into the global streaming arena with his series Maestro in Blue. Supported by the National Centre of Audiovisual Media and Communication (EKOME) and initially aired on MEGA TV, the show made history on 19 December 2022 as the first Greek drama to debut on Netflix. This study explores the significance of such turning points for small television nations, analysing textual choices, production strategies, and broader significance for the visibility of Greek television on the global stage. As such, the study contributes to understanding the evolving landscape of transnational television and its implications for small television cultures and industries.

This article investigates how the Eurozone crisis is thematically negotiated in a popular Greek television comedy. Inspired by the increasing interest in the ideological role of news media during the Eurozone crisis of the late 2000s, it turns the spotlight on the sphere of entertainment in an attempt to address the importance of fictional mediations and meaning-making processes. To that end, it proposes an understanding of television fiction as an accommodator and shaper of ‘hot moments’, instigating processes of self-assessment and evaluation of change. More specifically, the study examines the ways in which the family comedy Piso sto Spiti (MEGA Channel, 2011–2013) provides culturally based understandings of the Eurozone crisis by depicting it as associated with inherent flaws of the modern Greek and by assessing the possibility of change through a juxtaposition with national ‘others’. At the same time, it identifies ways that ideology leaks from television fiction in its interaction with other media discourses simultaneously circulating within a society.

This article investigates how the Eurozone crisis is thematically negotiated in a popular Greek television comedy. Inspired by the increasing interest in the ideological role of news media during the Eurozone crisis of the late 2000s, it turns the spotlight on the sphere of entertainment in an attempt to address the importance of fictional mediations and meaning-making processes. To that end, it proposes an understanding of television fiction as an accommodator and shaper of ‘hot moments’, instigating processes of self-assessment and evaluation of change. More specifically, the study examines the ways in which the family comedy Piso sto Spiti (MEGA Channel, 2011–2013) provides culturally based understandings of the Eurozone crisis by depicting it as associated with inherent flaws of the modern Greek and by assessing the possibility of change through a juxtaposition with national ‘others’. At the same time, it identifies ways that ideology leaks from television fiction in its interaction with other media discourses simultaneously circulating within a society.

This book explores fictional representations and narrative functions of animal characters in animated and live-action film and television, examining the ways in which these representations intersect with a variety of social issues. Contributors cover a range of animal characters, from heroes to villains, across a variety of screen genres and formats, including anime, comedy, romance, horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Aesthetic features of these works, along with the increased latitude that fictionalized narratives and alternative worlds provide, allow existing social issues to be brought to the forefront in order to effect change in our societies. By incorporating animal figures into media, these screen narratives have gained the ability to critique actions carried out by human beings and explore dimensions of both the human/animal connection and the intersectionality of race, culture, class, gender, and ability, ultimately teaching viewers how to become more human in our interactions with the world around us. Scholars of film studies, media studies, and animal studies will find this book of particular interest. 

This study engages with the cultural consequences of the self-disparaging politics of television satire. It focuses on an emblematic program of Greek television fiction, Oi Afthairetoi (MEGA channel, 1989–1991) and the ways it both constructs and ridicules a particular version of the Greek self, the “Neoellinas”. By proposing a wider understanding of the political side-effects of television satire, which have so far been mainly addressed within the study of political satire, it turns the attention toward the role of satirical discourse in a public’s view on its national self in times of change or transition. More specifically, while it recognizes the contradictory impact that satire can have on society, it applies the concept of “satiric misfire” as a means to understand satirical endeavors which reinforce rather than counter the problematics they set out to fight against in the first place.

This study engages with the cultural consequences of the self-disparaging politics of television satire. It focuses on an emblematic program of Greek television fiction, Oi Afthairetoi (MEGA channel, 1989–1991) and the ways it both constructs and ridicules a particular version of the Greek self, the “Neoellinas”. By proposing a wider understanding of the political side-effects of television satire, which have so far been mainly addressed within the study of political satire, it turns the attention toward the role of satirical discourse in a public’s view on its national self in times of change or transition. More specifically, while it recognizes the contradictory impact that satire can have on society, it applies the concept of “satiric misfire” as a means to understand satirical endeavors which reinforce rather than counter the problematics they set out to fight against in the first place.

This article draws from interviews with creators of television fiction (directors and screenwriters) with professional experience in Greek private television and examines how and why fiction programmes are produced in a commercial context. By focusing on the first decade of private television in Greece, an era popularly remembered as the ‘golden age of Greek television’, this study makes use of accounts from ‘exclusive informants’ in order to complicate facile assumptions about the relationship between commercialization, ideology and entertainment. As such, this article aspires to update the (limited) scholarship on Greek television production culture and to contribute to the recent research focusing specifically on private television in Greece.

This article draws from interviews with creators of television fiction (directors and screenwriters) with professional experience in Greek private television and examines how and why fiction programmes are produced in a commercial context. By focusing on the first decade of private television in Greece, an era popularly remembered as the ‘golden age of Greek television’, this study makes use of accounts from ‘exclusive informants’ in order to complicate facile assumptions about the relationship between commercialization, ideology and entertainment. As such, this article aspires to update the (limited) scholarship on Greek television production culture and to contribute to the recent research focusing specifically on private television in Greece.

Christopher (Christoforos) Papakaliatis is one of Greece’s most recognizable and successful ‘television authors’ and Maestro in Blue, his latest creation, is the series that managed to turn Greece into a full “Netflix nation” (Lobato, 2019). Supported by the National Centre of Audiovisual Media and Communication (EKOME) and originally broadcast by private television channel MEGA TV, Maestro in Blue became – on 19 December 2022 – the first Greek drama show to launch into global subscription video-on-demand streaming platform Netflix, with the latter having already acquired the rights for the second season. Shot on the Ionian islands of Paxoi and Corfu, using the locations strategically in a way that combines Papakaliatis’ signature glossy aesthetic style, traces of Mediterranean noir and ‘weird’ wave, and established (cinematic) representations of Greek island idyll, Maestro in Blue is addressed in this paper as part of Netflix’s glocalization practices (Sigismondi & Ciofalo, 2022) and as an example of “television that travels” (Waade et al, 2020).

By combining a textual analysis of the first season of the drama series with an overview of its production context and a mapping out of its popular/critical reception, this paper engages with the question around the significance of a small television culture gaining international visibility, focusing on three concrete analytical dimensions: 

(a)   exportability, addressed through a close examination of the visual and storytelling strategies potentially contributing to the appeal of the series to international audiences, including the importance of locations to narrative, iconography and cultural specificity

(b)  extroversion, addressed through an analysis of the creative synergies and production strategies orchestrated in order to resonate with a global commercial logic and (international) distribution

(c)   visibility, addressed through a discourse analysis of the series’ reception in both Greek and international popular/cultural criticism, and expressed primarily through the notions of quality and (national) pride.

Drawing from cultural theory, geomedia studies, and media industry studies, and informed by previous research on streaming platforms, international TV flows and content diversity (e.g. Lobato, 2018; Lotz et al, 2022), the present paper aspires to provide an empirically grounded analysis of small television industries’ engagement with developments in international media production and transnational television theory. What is more, it aims to discuss the drama series in question as a potential game changer for Greek television (studies), thus contributing to a broader discussion about the pleasures and gains of international appeal.

Book chapter in Greek.

Book title in English: The Box: Images of modern Greece in private television

Popular geopolitics has recognized in popular culture a platform where geopolitical imaginations are created and discursive constructions of ‘self’ and ‘other’ take place. However, limited work has been done on the employment of specific methodological tools of Critical Discourse Analysis on popular culture texts. This article attempts a hands-on analysis on an episode of a popular product of Greek television fiction (Oi Aparadektoi), and constitutes a combination of theoretical discussion, on one hand, and data presentation and analysis, on the other. Building on a growing body of literature arguing in favor of popular culture’s value for study of politics, the main argument is that television fiction can, and should be, included in investigations of the (geo)politics of the contemporary world and the politics of (national) identity, while special focus is placed on how a discourse-oriented approach can be adopted for the study of products of television fiction.

Popular geopolitics has recognized in popular culture a platform where geopolitical imaginations are created and discursive constructions of ‘self’ and ‘other’ take place. However, limited work has been done on the employment of specific methodological tools of Critical Discourse Analysis on popular culture texts. This article attempts a hands-on analysis on an episode of a popular product of Greek television fiction (Oi Aparadektoi), and constitutes a combination of theoretical discussion, on one hand, and data presentation and analysis, on the other. Building on a growing body of literature arguing in favor of popular culture’s value for study of politics, the main argument is that television fiction can, and should be, included in investigations of the (geo)politics of the contemporary world and the politics of (national) identity, while special focus is placed on how a discourse-oriented approach can be adopted for the study of products of television fiction.

The private life of a nation in crisis offers in-depth studies of the fictional reconstruction and negotiation of moments of heightened societal tension that take place throughout the life of a nation. Its constituent papers focus on the role of television fiction in representing and shaping either critical moments, events, or periods that disrupt the normal pace of life, or unresolved societal tensions that become part of everyday life. What is more, the papers investigate the socio-cultural consequences of representations, in terms of the interpretative lenses television fiction provides for understanding the events as such. The empirical focus is placed on television fiction produced and broadcast in Greece, a country that has recently received a large share of publicity because of its protagonistic role in the late 2000s Eurozone crisis and, at the same time, a media landscape with multiple aspects that still remain uncharted. The thesis contains case studies from different periods of Greek television fiction, from 1989 – the year of the launch of the first private channels in Greece – onwards, in an attempt to connect the overall project to the production context characterizing commercial television, another aspect of European television in the process of continuous exploration. Through a close analysis of specific television programmes, as well as a complementary study of the production culture of private television in Greece, this thesis aspires to contribute to the general question regarding the role of the media in critical, uncertain, or tumultuous times, with an emphasis on television fiction’s potential to recode their meaning and to reflect back on society.

The private life of a nation in crisis offers in-depth studies of the fictional reconstruction and negotiation of moments of heightened societal tension that take place throughout the life of a nation. Its constituent papers focus on the role of television fiction in representing and shaping either critical moments, events, or periods that disrupt the normal pace of life, or unresolved societal tensions that become part of everyday life. What is more, the papers investigate the socio-cultural consequences of representations, in terms of the interpretative lenses television fiction provides for understanding the events as such. The empirical focus is placed on television fiction produced and broadcast in Greece, a country that has recently received a large share of publicity because of its protagonistic role in the late 2000s Eurozone crisis and, at the same time, a media landscape with multiple aspects that still remain uncharted. The thesis contains case studies from different periods of Greek television fiction, from 1989 – the year of the launch of the first private channels in Greece – onwards, in an attempt to connect the overall project to the production context characterizing commercial television, another aspect of European television in the process of continuous exploration. Through a close analysis of specific television programmes, as well as a complementary study of the production culture of private television in Greece, this thesis aspires to contribute to the general question regarding the role of the media in critical, uncertain, or tumultuous times, with an emphasis on television fiction’s potential to recode their meaning and to reflect back on society.

Christopher (Christoforos) Papakaliatis is one of Greece’s most recognizable and successful “television authors” and Maestro in Blue, his latest creation, is the series that managed to turn Greece into a “Netflix nation”, both in the sense of a country being included in the global streaming service’s catalogue and in terms of a national television market being potentially “transformed by a foreign entrant affecting on many levels” (Lobato 2019: xi). On 19 December 2022, Maestro in Blue became the first Greek fiction show to launch on Netflix and the present review provides a critical reading of the series, based on an overview of its major strengths and weaknesses, as well as some additional reflections departing from the critical reception of the series, together with some concluding thoughts about the significance of small television nations being represented in the larger streaming universe.

In this article we discuss discourses of white mobility in reality television, a genre whose problematic post-racial and neoliberal discourses have long been exposed. Moving beyond the widely researched Anglophone media landscapes, we interrogate the discursive construction of white mobilities in the Swedish romance reality show Bonde Söker Fru – Jorden Runt (TV4, 2019-2020) [Farmer Seeks Wife – Around the World] where Swedish North-to-South migrants working as farmers abroad seek a partner from Sweden through the assistance of reality TV. By focusing on the discursive and visual strategies through which the show perpetuates racial hierarchies, we discuss the colonial imaginaries, the absence of border policies (such as residency, employment, or integration), and the significance of individual migratory preferences in the mobility discourses. We identify three forms of white mobility – the tourist, the adventurer, and the philanthropist – and show that migration is depicted as something reversible, an adventure, and a possibility for self-development, rather than a life-long decision with high stakes.

In this article we discuss discourses of white mobility in reality television, a genre whose problematic post-racial and neoliberal discourses have long been exposed. Moving beyond the widely researched Anglophone media landscapes, we interrogate the discursive construction of white mobilities in the Swedish romance reality show Bonde Söker Fru – Jorden Runt (TV4, 2019-2020) [Farmer Seeks Wife – Around the World] where Swedish North-to-South migrants working as farmers abroad seek a partner from Sweden through the assistance of reality TV. By focusing on the discursive and visual strategies through which the show perpetuates racial hierarchies, we discuss the colonial imaginaries, the absence of border policies (such as residency, employment, or integration), and the significance of individual migratory preferences in the mobility discourses. We identify three forms of white mobility – the tourist, the adventurer, and the philanthropist – and show that migration is depicted as something reversible, an adventure, and a possibility for self-development, rather than a life-long decision with high stakes.

This introductory article to the Special Issue ‘Greek Screen Industries’ of the Journal of Greek Media and Culture offers a critical overview of the recently emerging field of Media Industry Studies and situates existing work on Greek screen industries in its context. It argues that the current fragmentation and lack of dialogue between social sciences and arts and humanities approaches on the topic is particularly marked in the Greek context, a fact that can be explained by institutional and historical reasons. It calls for an expansion of the agendas privileged by political economy approaches to screen media towards the more pluralistic, empirical and culture-orientated perspectives facilitated by Media Industry Studies.

This introductory article to the Special Issue ‘Greek Screen Industries’ of the Journal of Greek Media and Culture offers a critical overview of the recently emerging field of Media Industry Studies and situates existing work on Greek screen industries in its context. It argues that the current fragmentation and lack of dialogue between social sciences and arts and humanities approaches on the topic is particularly marked in the Greek context, a fact that can be explained by institutional and historical reasons. It calls for an expansion of the agendas privileged by political economy approaches to screen media towards the more pluralistic, empirical and culture-orientated perspectives facilitated by Media Industry Studies.

This chapter examines the globally peripheral case study of Greek media industry studies for the twofold aim of locating the relevant research trajectory in and about the country and arguing for the significance of localizing media industries research within the context of Media Industry Studies. Media Industry Studies (MIS) emerged in Anglo-American scholarship in the late 2000s as an umbrella term that aims to bring together the study of diverse and historically distinct media industries through a variety of disciplinary and methodological traditions, embracing aspects of both the humanities and social sciences. In celebrating plurality, however, MIS has faced difficulty in establishing common ground with certain media-related disciplines whose research agenda was incompatible with others. Central to this has been the prioritization or not of issues related to culture, and the concomitant methodological implications of such a choice. In retrospectively locating MIS in and about Greece, this chapter traces a similar trajectory, with political economy-driven social sciences research dominating media industries research and with hardly any dialogue between such an approach and less dominant approaches emerging from arts, humanities, and cultural studies. Recently, however, there has been a significant shift toward a more methodologically mixed and qualitatively orientated humanities-inspired agenda that also reflects the expansion of the objects of research from an almost exclusive focus on such issues as the print press, television news, or online journalism, to film, television fiction, or video games. The chapter demonstrates that such a shift has been taking place because of changes in the sociopolitical, economic, and cultural environment in which Greek media industries operate, and therefore argues for the significance of localizing MIS rather than unconditionally adopting its agendas as these emerged in Western media contexts.

This chapter examines the globally peripheral case study of Greek media industry studies for the twofold aim of locating the relevant research trajectory in and about the country and arguing for the significance of localizing media industries research within the context of Media Industry Studies. Media Industry Studies (MIS) emerged in Anglo-American scholarship in the late 2000s as an umbrella term that aims to bring together the study of diverse and historically distinct media industries through a variety of disciplinary and methodological traditions, embracing aspects of both the humanities and social sciences. In celebrating plurality, however, MIS has faced difficulty in establishing common ground with certain media-related disciplines whose research agenda was incompatible with others. Central to this has been the prioritization or not of issues related to culture, and the concomitant methodological implications of such a choice. In retrospectively locating MIS in and about Greece, this chapter traces a similar trajectory, with political economy-driven social sciences research dominating media industries research and with hardly any dialogue between such an approach and less dominant approaches emerging from arts, humanities, and cultural studies. Recently, however, there has been a significant shift toward a more methodologically mixed and qualitatively orientated humanities-inspired agenda that also reflects the expansion of the objects of research from an almost exclusive focus on such issues as the print press, television news, or online journalism, to film, television fiction, or video games. The chapter demonstrates that such a shift has been taking place because of changes in the sociopolitical, economic, and cultural environment in which Greek media industries operate, and therefore argues for the significance of localizing MIS rather than unconditionally adopting its agendas as these emerged in Western media contexts.