My Life in Ruins: Hollywood and holidays in Greece in times of crisis

Abstract

Through a textual and cultural reading of My Life in Ruins (Petrie, 2009), this article examines the ways in which the film became implicated in cultural politics and, more specifically, in the commercial image of Greece the tourist industry strives to promote. It is argued that My Life in Ruins directs the gaze of the viewers towards stylized images of Greece and stereotypical narratives well known from older films with an agenda to ‘advertise Greece’ to potential tourists. Further examining the making and promotion of the film, one can also argue that the actual involvement of the Greek state in it was not coincidental. The support offered by the Hellenic Archaeological Committee and the newly founded Hellenic Film Commission Office to the film’s production and promotion highlights the stakes that Greek state policy had placed in the film’s global commercial success. It also seems that, as the first signs of a global financial crisis became visible, a nation’s economic anxieties were expressed and precariously invested in projects such as My Life in Ruins.