April 28, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

NETFLIX series about Alexander the Great – "low-grade fiction"says the Minister of Culture


Greece has spoken! NETFLIX series about Alexander the Great “The Making of a God” is “low quality fiction and low content,” the culture minister said on Wednesday. Lina Mendoni.

The series caused controversy in the country because it dealt with the sensitive topic of homosexuality and, by extension, the identity that Greeks consider a “superhero.”

Earlier this month, when the TV series Alexander: Creation of God was released, it caused a furor in conservative Greece due to scenes showing homosexual relations between the Macedonian and Hephaestion.

“It’s a shame to show Alexander the Great as a homosexual,” some Greek websites headlined their articles. The issue has now reached parliament, with the leader of conservative religious party Nike, Dimitris Natsios, asking the government if it plans to take action against the film. Answering him, the Minister of Culture explained that “the ministry does not censor art”. At the same time, she criticized its quality and historical inaccuracies, saying in particular that “It does not serve historical truth.”

“Elements of Alexander’s personality are not revealed in the Netflix series, which does not serve historical truth. It is replete with historical inaccuracies, demonstrates the director’s sloppiness and script poverty,” – the minister emphasized.

She added that the series “seeks mild sensationalism to gain viewers by using malicious comments as supposed facts.” The platform characterizes the series as a documentary film with fictional scenes. In essence, this is an extremely low-quality fiction of low content, which is far from the historical events recorded in ancient written sources and confirmed by archaeological research. Regarding Alexander’s relationship with Hephaestion, the minister said that there is not a single mention in historical sources that they went beyond friendship, as Aristotle defined it.”

However, she noted that “the concept of love in Ancient Greece was broad and multidimensional”, adding that “we cannot interpret the practices or people of 2000 years ago by our own measures, our own norms, our own assumptions.” Alexander the Great, for 2,300 years, never needed and does not now need the intervention of any uninvited defender of his historical memory, or, even more so, of his personality and moral status.” – the minister added.

Lina Mendoni emphasized that no action was taken or planned against the Netflix platform.



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