Interview
Thanos Tokakis: We live in the era of the glorification of individualism.
Thanos Tokakis introduces us to Fiacas, a character who is quite similar to the Greek as he carries many of the bad elements of Greek culture. He talks to us about the identity crisis we have gone through and the repercussions it has left and the individualism that is unfortunately celebrated nowadays.
Who is Charalambos Petaloudis or Fiacas?
He is a classic character of Greek origin or rather post-Turkish occupation who would very much like to be an aristocrat and live lavishly and for this reason he has borrowed from all over the world thus being in debt everywhere. We catch him at a turning point where all his creditors are after him and he is looking for his next trick so he can survive.
Why did you decide to get involved in this particular project?
Although it's a comedy of manners, it has a familiar reality and the characters have to do with something quite authentic and typical of the Greek race. This sense that everyone is cheating everyone. It's a play where everyone is trying to gain from each other without making meaningful connections.
Is it a play that touches on the evils of man?
It's a play that goes up to a second level lest you imagine that it touches on deeper human issues; existential. It's a comedy of manners as I said before so it doesn't get into a deeper process of man. It's a classic character like a silent film character where he has a clear goal and the whole canvas of the play and the hero is based on that.
Have we also gone through an identity crisis as human beings in the midst of quarantine and economic crisis?
We certainly did and still do. This thing had an echo and we are still trying to find our footing, since this crisis has gone to other levels. It has taken another form and that is the scariest thing. I personally believe that if the financial crisis comes back to Greece we will make the same mistakes again. I do not think we have learned our lesson. Neither the politicians nor we as citizens. We have all got into a process of consumption and the new "good" life but false in essence.
Is it human nature to live with illusions of neo-pluralism?
It is the nature of man as he has grown up. Neo-pluralism is a political system that you have grown up with and you follow it by passing it on in your dna. The word development that we keep hearing I believe has a ceiling and it doesn't necessarily have to go upwards but also sideways. Growth is an internal process and it has to do with education and other things that we ignore and all we care about in terms of growth is how many followers we get and how many views we get.
Superficial things which eventually burst and we are in a constant depression.
Do you think we all see growth?
Of course not. The system has made you believe that this is what you have to chase and that this is what's happening and now that's the most dangerous thing because there's not that sense of it. There are some things that are passed on to you like you want to do them.
Does the everyday life and the times we live in affect people's relationship and in what direction?
There is an inner disenchantment where the concept of individualism is celebrated. The concept of the individual. There has been what I think is a misidentification of freedom and what it means and believes that every person can be free to have choices and do what they want. This is a false mentality of life because empathy is lost. Collectivity is lost, the sense of living in a context and in a society is lost.