A sceptical view on “Recycling Medea”

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Introduction                                                                                                                                     A new film has been created: “Recycling Medea”…., created out of earlier Medeas, so a next recycling of the original drama, the original horror, as all Greek myths are based on horror and bestiality.

I am bitter.

Asteris Kutulas, the director of the film, has created a website, trailers, YouTube channel, Vimeo channel, all to promote his film. A film at the same time about Mikis Theodorakis: his music is in it, but also Mikis Theodorakis himself. I have tried to discuss about this film and some quotes in the film, spoken by Mikis Theodorakis, in comments on Vimeo, but they have been removed by Asteris Kutulas later, I saw today, because, I assume, I was criticizing him and Theodorakis. Commenting is not possible anymore, though my comments were fair and honest, but sharp and intelligent. It is closed. He has no answers back, that is clear.

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Where did I talk about? I was first of all questioning the fact that Asteris Kutulas has used an utterly white (in terms of racism) child, with blond, light-blond hair, and an almost transparent white skin, and yes, light blue eyes. Beautifully filmed however, amazing. His comment back (on Vimeo): The blond child is a symbol of the ultimate innocence. I commented back: The ultimate innocence is not related with any race or type of human being, it is the inbeing that makes a child, a human being, looking innocent and being innocent. I reminded him that there was an extreme racist in the recent past that has used the same characteristics for promoting his ideals: Hitler. Blond, blue eyes, white, they were his ultimate German dream. I reminded him that it is also Anders Breyvik, who hails patriotism in Norway, who has that view for the most excellent example of the most delicate and exquisite Norwegian: he created a huge drama, we all remember Oslo and Utøya (2011). Asteris Kutulas should not have used a blond child (as he named the young woman) as the most pure being at all, in a Greek drama. There are blond and blue eyed Greeks, but the most of the Greeks have brown eyes and black hair, have other, typical faces, noses, shapes of eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes than the blond “child” where Medea, the Kutulas film, starts with. Besides that: the searched effect of innocence gets lost when you watch the blond blue eyed girl deep in her eyes (in the film): there is not the innocence that Kutulas is talking about. To be clear: I have personally nothing against blond hair and blue eyes, and my own daughter is yes, blond, and has blue eyes. I have blue eyes. I was white blond as a child. Just for in case somebody is going to name me a racist.

The “child” in the film is sexually present. It is not a child, watching her age. It is a woman. Young, beautiful, but not innocent. Not in the soul awareness. I found more about her: she IS German and her name is Bella (Annabel) Oelmann, born on January 7, 1997 in Berlin.  So, Kutulas asked a German girl (really not so clever when you realize the reality of the complicated and cruel stories about WWII, Hitler, Greece, the wounds that are still there, and that what is in the daily news in the present: all filled with hatred between Greece and Germany, between Theodorakis and Germany, the Germans in common), besides that: not an innocent child, as you can read on her Twitter, and see on other photos; in Kutulas film performing Medea, the innocence herself!? She has painted her hair for the film even blonder. I would not be surprised if she had to use special light blue contact lenses. Her eyes are darker on photos than in the film. All is about effects. Not about true real inner values.

Kutulas did not think deep enough and not long enough.

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Terrorist                                                                                                                                           What I explained to Asteris Kutulas also, in my comments on Vimeo, is Mikis Theodorakis’ statement in the trailer that will work as a kind of a new slogan to reach the minds of too many Greeks, to be used as a kind of a brainwash and to stimulate them to be the same (Theodorakis is a popular figure in Greece and has many followers): a terrorist. Mikis Theodorakis: “If I was young today, they would call me a terrorist, too.” All young men and women want to be a hero. Dream to be popular. To be famous. Mikis’ fame, glory, his deserved respect and his regular being in the news of the present ánd mentioned in the Greek history as one of the greatest Greeks ever, speaks to everybody’s imagination. He is an idol, the living legend. What he says can/will be followed up, blind. People believe him. That creates a huge responsibility. For Theodorakis. Ánd for me as well, in this blog. Reason even for adding a disclaimer.

The word “terrorist” includes horror, bestiality, injustice, cruelty. Remember September Eleven, remember Anders Breyvik, remember the attacks in railway stations, and lately with the Boston Marathon bombings.  I have considered Mikis Theodorakis as being a contributor to resistance movements. Resistance is something else than terrorism.

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Myths have to be screened for humanitarian reasons, to finish with Evil             When I read the story-line of Medea then I read about a mother who kills her own children. When I read about other Greek myths I read also there about murder, suicide, horror. Some weeks ago I wrote a long serial about Antigone and already there I spoke about my true and fair doubts about the Greek myths.

This week there has been much commotion in the press about a Greek woman, Maria Repousi (photo), who spoke about and criticized the Greek myth Zalongo. In that myth a mass suicide took place. Women threw their children in the abyss and after that they jumped themselves, all, and followed their children in what they thought it would be: death.

What the Greek playwrights (and the script writers of today) did/do not know is, that the soul does not die, only the body cannot function anymore, and is dead. They, the Greek women of Zalongo, are still alive in the Greek culture, and even children had to play the drama on the primary school. This drama is implanted in their mind, their way of thinking, it has been accepted as the only way things are, and have to be, and have to be done. As if it is something beautiful!!! This is cruel brainwashing, this is killing the innocence of pure Greek children!

Reasons enough to justify Maria Repousi’s declaration.

That is why I attack here (to support her), with my full awareness and consciousness, and the to that belonging responsibility, the writers and promoters of the Greek myths: they contribute to evil. There is nothing heroic about suicide, murder, not in the reality of life, not in the news, not in books, not in films, not in myths. It is time that eyes are opened.

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More criticism                                                                                                                                 IF this, the mythical way, is the Greek way of thinking, and reason for Theodorakis to attack Maria Repousi (“Go to Nigeria if you don’t love Greece!”, he said), Maria, who rejected the Greek myth as well, then I have a question to all who share Mikis Theodorakis’ opinion: WHY do we do not the same now? WHY are we not all killing ourselves then now, because in the present are enough reasons to quit with life, to quit with the story that obviously never ends. The story of Evil. Hm?!

IF it is so honorable to continue a myth, named Zalongo (ending with a mass suicide) why are there armies, guns, bombs, why should people fight, why is there resistance, why shouldn’t all humans quit and die in that promoted suicide? If suicide is legal in myths then it is legal in life as well, also in religions, when because of their religion people think they will die as a martyr and will be in heaven when they sacrifice their life for a better future of all, for “freedom” of their people, killing others, who are “evil”. This is insanity, creating insanity, zero comma zero positive. Has created Ground Zero in New York, on September 11. Positivity is so much needed in the world of today.

Committing suicide is the deepest sin a human being can commit, it is a curse against life, against Creation, it is an Evil act. That goes beyond rape, even beyond killing somebody else. Think.

The trailer of the film “Recycling Medea” shows Athens, policemen, and it is clear that the film-maker tries to infiltrate his views in your mind, your opinion about the policemen: they are bad, evil. And Ah! the poor powerless innocent people who they make suffer.

Is this a contribution to a better Greek society?

Is this a contribution to solving the Greek problems?

I sense too much propaganda in this film. Hailing and praising of drama, the tragedy of today re-created into a play, a scenario: making you, me, believe: it is wonderful, so beautifully pitiful to be the victim. Those who are performing in the film are filled however with false / fake emotions. It is play. Play. Played drama. Not reality, not deep felt own experiences.

It is exactly that what makes the difference between those who act like that, and Anne Frank. Anne Frank did NOT play the victim, did not dramatize or exaggerate her circumstances, her feelings, her life. Not at all!! I dare to say that it is a shame that Anne Frank (photo) is mentioned, used, as a part of the film, to legalize even the word “terrorist”. I read that “they”, the film-makers, got the permission of the Anne Frank Fonds in Basel. For what? Do they know all the details? Do they know the myth of Medea?  I am sure they don’t and I would like to invite them to read my post here, and to think about my criticism. To reconsider their permission.

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Mikis Theodorakis is not on the list of those who work(ed) for peace, like Grigoris Lambrakis, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King. It surprised me when I was studying that list for the post about Grigoris Lambrakis. It confused me. But Mikis Theodorakis has given me the answer himself, with his statement in the film.

I do NOT support terrorism, I reject it, from everybody.

From Greek Reporter: “The Greek Democratic Left deputy, Maria Repousi, (the one who has been attacked by Mikis Theodorakis because of her sharp view on the Zalongo myth), chose to answer all criticism and verbal attacks she received during the last days through an article she had published in the paper, Efimerida ton Sintakton, where she maintained that “whoever does not agree with the prevailing views is in danger.”

Moreover, Repousi noted that, “From the regime of national correctness, we’ve passed to the regime of national terrorism,” a phrase expected to trigger further reaction.”

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Conclusion                                                                                                                                         It is time to update all myths, not recycling, but rewriting them completely, into stories that fit within the values of humanity of today, tomorrow. Time to update the way of thinking from what it was in the past to what it has to be now, in the present. To be able to leave the past for what it was, to stop evil, even when it is glorified by all famous Greek playwrights from the past. The women of Zalongo were not heroic, they were bestial, to kill their children by throwing them into the abyss, and then to follow them, the cowards. What a disgusting story. The next sentences prove that they did not understand anything about “freedom”:

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“The fish cannot live on the land
Nor the flower on the sand,
And the women of Souli
Cannot live without freedom.”

To understand “freedom” it is a must to read the wise men, and women, of today.

I wish Greece a wonderful new future, without Medea’s, Elektra’s, Antigone’s or Zalongo’s, without any myth’s (Evil’s) tentacles on the Greek soul.

To Maria: Stay in Greece, and keep going on with sharing your own views. Even if they are controversial, even if they do not fit within Theodorakis’ views or not anybody’s views. Theodorakis teached us to resist all that we, in ourselves, feel and experience as not true, illegal, unfair, what is against our own consciousness or awareness and responsibilities.

To Asteris Kutulas I would like to say: what a pity that you removed my honest and fair, though sharp comments/critics. That you did not answer my view with a reasonable explanation. With this you make my strong belief even more real that you do not understand the principle about innocence, you do not understand Anne Frank’s life. You should not have used a blond blue eyed girl, you should have thought deeper before starting to create the film. I expected that you could. You disappointed me.

To Mikis Theodorakis I would like to say that he shocked me with his statement about terrorism. I could close this blog (it was my first thought) but I decided to keep it open, otherwise I do not have any voice left to resist even you, Mikis Theodorakis, in cases that I feel the call of duty, within myself, to resist you when you are against that what I learned in life, from life, of life, as Holy. Life is God’s blessing (Mikis Theodorakis’ own words), always, and nobody has the right to kill, to murder, to commit suicide, to promote terrorism, to be a terrorist, to play the victim or to use children in a story to make the drama even worse.

To all I would like to say: please start reading other material than myths. There are wonderful books, for instance The Diary of Anne Frank, for instance Etty Hillesum’s book: A Transformed Life. Yes, Asteris Kutulas, if you want to create something good for Greece, for mankind, create a film about Etty Hillesum.

That goes so much deeper than Medea, Elektra, or Antigone. Maybe too deep? Prove that you can think.

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Last question to make everybody think deeper, including Mikis Theodorakis   Does Greece lose its identity with rejecting the myths, as you said, Mikis Theodorakis, when you were attacking Maria Repousi? Did you ever think about the consequences of the holy bible (for Jews, Christians, the world) on the issue of Palestine and Israel? The bible can be compared with myths.

Another example to explain that what is right in the past and legal, can change into murder in the present: Cannibalism.

“Cannibalism was widespread in the past among humans in many parts of the world, continuing into the 19th century in some isolated South Pacific cultures, and to the present day in parts of tropical Africa. In a few cases in insular Melanesia, indigenous flesh-markets existed. Fiji was once known as the ‘Cannibal Isles’. Cannibalism has been well documented around the world, from Fiji to the Amazon Basin to the Congo to Māori New Zealand. Neanderthals are believed to have practiced cannibalism, and Neanderthals may have been eaten by anatomically modern humans.” (wiki)

Question: did one of the countries, where cannibalism was practiced, lose its identity by stopping cannibalism? Did the people lose something important for their life, their future, their soul, their awareness, their evolution?

Another question: because the wish to keep the myths as a part of Greece is fitting within Mikis Theodorakis ideas about patriotism (that I criticized already in an earlier post because patriotism is related with Anders Breyvik/Oslo/Utøya), I would like to ask:

What made the Netherlands lesser the Netherlands by welcoming other peoples from other countries? What made Amsterdam different from before by welcoming all peoples and nations of the world? Our (the Dutch) tolerance and humanity has brought richness, a smell of herbs/spices from other orients, other colours, other faces, races, other traditions, other insight. All the beauty of the world is collected in our country. We grew as human beings, as Dutch people. Identity as a human being is to be human. A world citizen. We did not lose Van Gogh or Rembrandt with it, not our belief in God and Christ, we welcomed also Allah, as another word for God, in other churches, with other habits, but with the same love for life. We have grown into a deeper awareness, together. We learn from each other.

Humanity is in evolution, in a constant change of values, growing into higher values, in a higher intelligence. Myths that took place as a reality, a reality that has been dramatized more and more by the stories that grew out of it into other realities are today the product of the total of all the values of the past. There are values of the past that are outdated.

Greece is more than its myths. Greece is a part of evolution also. Myths keep the Greek soul imprisoned in something that feels for me as black magic. It is an act of Love to dare to speak about this, as Maria Repousi did. I would like to ask Mikis Theodorakis: Is it an act of Love to keep the Greeks/Greece, that you pretend to love, in the prison of its own culture? Greeks have to grow out of it. Myths have created sick minds. Have created a respect for something what has been explained as something brave, great, wonderful, but what has not been brave or wonderful at all, but evil.  In my opinion it will be proved more and more that the Greek myths have caused so much damage in the Greek way of thinking that this might be the source of all evil in the present, ánd in its history.

But as always in my life it will also take here more than twenty years before finally that what I see will be accepted as true.

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Sources and additional information 

• Website: Etty Hillesum
• Book: A Life Transformed (Etty Hillesum)
• Greek reporter: Theodorakis to Repousi: Leave If You Don’t Love Greece!
• Wiki: list of Peace Activists
• Website: Anne Frank
• Book: The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
• Website: Recycling Medea
• Vimeo: Asteris Kutulas
• YouTube: Asteris Kutulas
• Website: Maria Repousi
• Wiki: Zalongo
• Wiki: Medea
• Webpage: Bella Oelmann (Medea)
• MySpace: Asteris Kutulas
• Painting: Dance of Zalongo
• Book: Cycle of the Soul (about the consequences of committing suicide)
• Wiki: Ground Zero
• Playlist with videos: Life is God’s blessing (the first four videos, interview with Georgos Malouchos), presented here because Guy Wagner has written me that I behave like an Evangelist by using these words. You can find his words in the comments. I copied his email to me. Mikis Theodorakis has used these words. I used the words, because I agree in that. Guy Wagner is the webmaster of the official Mikis Theodorakis website and has forbidden me to use information from now on from that website because of this post here.

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