ABSTRACT
This chapter tries to detect the basic representations of the Greek genius in popular culture since 1974. Greek TV fiction, commercials, songs and online news are the basic fields of research. Genius as a national characteristic is often linked to the Greek business mentality. In many cases it connotes a force that turns national identity's disadvantages into advantages. In other cases genius is being used to achieve a critique on those qualities which have defined the national self over time. The humorous approach to the Greek genius is the most common depiction from television series to advertising, songs and online items. The ability of modern Greeks to survive in adversity, balancing between conflicting social practices and standards, often paying a high price in terms of moral integrity or economic stability, constitutes rarely a dramatic theme in Greek popular culture. Apart from the entertaining aspect of these representations, another important motif is the fact that Greek genius is usually connected with (male mostly) protagonists of middle social strata that balance between social rise and fall. In this sense, the Greek genius signifies a reason to evaluate the idea of easy social mobility that prevailed for a long time after 1974.
