The first comprehensive scholarly study of Spanish erotic cinema, from the 1920s until the present dayThis book covers a significant part of the history of Spanish film, from the 1920s until the present day. Starting with a study of the kiss in silent films, the volume explores homoerotic narratives in the crusade films of the 1940s, the commodification of bodies in the late Franco period, and the so-called destape (literally aundressing) period that followed the abolition of censorship during the democratic transition.Reclaiming the importance of Spanish erotic cinema as a genre in itself, a range of international scholars demonstrate how the explicit depiction of sex can be a useful tool to illuminate current and historic social issues including ageism, colonialism, domestic violence, immigration, nationalisms, or women and LGBT rights. Covering a wide range of cinematic genres, including comedy, horror and melodrama, this book provides an innovative and provocative overview of Spanish cinema history and society in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.ContributorsBrad Epps, Cambridge UniversitySally Faulkner, University of ExeterSantiago Fouz-HernA!ndez, Durham UniversityAntonio LA!zaro-Reboll, University of KentAnnabel MartA-n, Dartmouth CollegeAlejandro Melero Salvador, Universidad Carlos III in MadridJorge PA(c)rez, University of Texas, AustinCarolina Sanabria, University of Costa Rica Rob Stone, University of BirminghamTom Whittaker, University of LiverpoolEva Woods PeirA Vassar CollegeSarah Wright, Royal Holloway, University of LondonBarbara Zecchi, University of Massachusetts Amherst

The first comprehensive scholarly study of Spanish erotic cinema, from the 1920s until the present dayThis book covers a significant part of the history of Spanish film, from the 1920s until the present day. Starting with a study of the kiss in silent films, the volume explores homoerotic narratives in the crusade films of the 1940s, the commodification of bodies in the late Franco period, and the so-called destape (literally aundressing) period that followed the abolition of censorship during the democratic transition.Reclaiming the importance of Spanish erotic cinema as a genre in itself, a range of international scholars demonstrate how the explicit depiction of sex can be a useful tool to illuminate current and historic social issues including ageism, colonialism, domestic violence, immigration, nationalisms, or women and LGBT rights. Covering a wide range of cinematic genres, including comedy, horror and melodrama, this book provides an innovative and provocative overview of Spanish cinema history and society in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.ContributorsBrad Epps, Cambridge UniversitySally Faulkner, University of ExeterSantiago Fouz-HernA!ndez, Durham UniversityAntonio LA!zaro-Reboll, University of KentAnnabel MartA-n, Dartmouth CollegeAlejandro Melero Salvador, Universidad Carlos III in MadridJorge PA(c)rez, University of Texas, AustinCarolina Sanabria, University of Costa Rica Rob Stone, University of BirminghamTom Whittaker, University of LiverpoolEva Woods PeirA Vassar CollegeSarah Wright, Royal Holloway, University of LondonBarbara Zecchi, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Provides sophisticated theoretical approaches to Latin American cinema and sexual culture. Despite All Adversities examines a representative selection of notable queer films by Spanish America’s most important directors since the 1950s. Each chapter focuses on a single film and offers rich and thoughtful new interpretations by a prominent scholar. The book explores films from across the region, including Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s and Juan Carlos Tabío’s Fresa y chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate, 1993), Marcelo Piñeyro’s Plata quemada (Burnt Money, 2000), Barbet Schroeder’s La Virgen de los Sicarios (Our Lady of the Assassins, 2000), Lucía Puenzo’s XXY (XXY, 2007), Francisco J. Lombardi’s No se lo digas a nadie (Don’t Tell Anyone, 1998), Arturo Ripstein’s El lugar sin límites (Hell Without Limits, 1978), among others. A survey of recent lesbian-themed Mexican films is also included.

"Comprising fifteen original essays from renowned scholars of Spanish film, the book casts light on the manifold meanings, methods and influences of Spanish screen performance, from the silent era to the present day"--

Homosexuality has been treated only in a fragmentary way in Hispanic Studies, and this is the first full-length study of the subject in contemporary Spanish writing and film. Introducing the book with a brief account of some medical, legal, and polemical texts, Paul Julian Smith, an established authority on Hispanic Studies, charts the varying representations of the feminist or gay "self" in autobiographical texts by Chacel, Goytisolo, and Terenci Moixs. He goes on to offer radically new readings of trilogies by Goytisolo and Tusquets, the major novelists of homosexual desire in Spain, in the light of influential French theorists Hocquenghem and Wittig. Finally, Smith draws on archival research at the Filmoteca Nacional to offer a broadly historical account of Eloy de la Iglesia and Pedro Almod((o'))var, the two major gay auteurs of post-Franco film. Particular attention is paid to their use of cinematic form, and the book ends with an analysis of Almod((o'))var's ¡Atame! ("Tie me up! Tie me down!)--a film which exemplifies the main argument of the book: that homosexuality is no unitary phenomenon, but rather a historical and libidinal construct inevitably inflected by gender, class, and regional identity.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Romance Languages - Spanish Studies, grade: 1,3 (A), Kingston University London (Spanish Institute), course: Spanish Cinema, language: English, abstract: Introduction Almodovar's first three films Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (1980), Laberinto de Pasiones (1982) and Entre Tinieblas (1983) can be seen as a breaking of all the taboos that were forbidden under Franco's regime: there is drug use, "abnormal" sexuality, crude language, adultery, religious blasphemy. The films clearly mirror the new freedoms enjoyed by a generation of film-makers belonging to Spain's "la movida" movement of the late 1970's and early 1980's. Born in 1951, Almodovar mainly grew up in the rural Extremadura, but left for Madrid at the age of sixteen. He originally wanted to attend the national film school, but due to the closure of the school by the Dictator Franco′s repressive government he was unable to go. He instead took a job at a telephone company to make the money to buy himself a Super-8 camera. Almodovar began filming short films in the early 1970s, and quickly became associated with 'la movida'. This essay will be evaluating Almodovar's role as a post-modern director, including a brief demonstration of the development of the post-modern culture after Franco's death. The essay is especially interested in the juxtaposition of homo- and heterosexuality in Almodovar's films and will evaluate the different ways in which Almodovar presents homosexuality. It will also have a close look at the mediums Almodovar uses to make his audience take his absurd film worlds for granted, and accept the happenings and characters as 'normal'.

Contemporary focus, right up to date with material from 1980s and 90s. Wide-ranging analyses of major directors, themes, genres and issues, including historical film, genre cinema, women in film and autonomies.