Greekness, Gender Stereotypes, and the Hollywood Musical in Jules Dassin's Never on Sunday

Jules Dassin's Never on Sunday (1959) relies on the structural and stylistic conventions of the American film musical to portray the conflict between two mutually exclusive understandings of Greekness--one valorizing the ancient past and the other, the modern present. The smooth passage from the narrative segments into the music and dance sequences associates popular modern Greek culture with the fusion of work and play that is exemplified in the combination of prostitution and unrestrained sexuality. In the deployment of the voyeuristic visual economy of the show or backstage musical, modern Greekness is feminized in accordance with the gender stereotypes that determine the articulation of the Hollywood musical's style and structure. As a result, the film depicts Greek ethnocultural specificity as naive carnality and unreflexive pathos.