ABSTRACT
The chapter's central argument is that, in these two films, the conflation of gender and nation serves as an artistic device which successfully enables the two male directors to simultaneously capture the changing dynamics of East-West interactions and illuminate Romania's place in the new continental and global power structures. In Occident, women and children compete for the attention and affection of western men, as the only venue for economic comfort and personal social mobility. California Dreamin complicates the image by offering a viable, alternative Romanian masculinity in the person of the protagonist. In Occident the inferiority and marginality of individuals struggling to make ends meet in a chaotic environment is acknowledged and internalized on a personal level. California Dreamin challenges it on a collective level by positioning Romania in a wider, regional context, and by providing a historical background for its relationship with the "West".
