This book provides a comprehensive cultural and historical account of the key film policies put into place by the Spanish state between 1980 and 2010 through a gendered lens, framing these policies within the wider context of European film legislation. Departing from the belief that there is no such thing as an objective and value-neutral approach to policy analysis because our society is organised around gender, this volume builds upon Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of field to propose that film policies do not emerge in a vacuum because they respond to different demands from those agents involved in the field of the Spanish cinema. By so doing, it critically assesses how these policies have come into being, by whom, in response to what interests, how they have shaped the Spanish film industry, and how far and in what ways they have tackled gender inequality in the Spanish film industry. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of Spanish cinema, gender studies, film industry studies, film policy, and feminist film studies.

This examination of twentieth-century Spanish film explores the portrayal of gender and its interaction with national identity, ethnicity, class, politics and history.

The chapter Experiencing Male Dominance in Swedish Film Production” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

"Costume design is a crucial, but frequently overlooked, aspect of film that fosters an appreciation of the diverse ways in which film and fashion enrich each other. These influential industries offer representations of ideas, values, and beliefs that shape and construct cultural identities. In Fashioning Spanish Cinema, Jorge Pérez analyses the use of clothing and fashion as costumes within Spanish cinema, paying particular attention to the significance of those costumes in relation to the visual styles and the narratives of the films. The author examines the links between costume analysis and other fields and theoretical frameworks such as fashion studies, the history of dress, celebrity studies, and gender and feminist studies. Fashioning Spanish Cinema looks at instances in which costumes are essential to shaping the public image of stars, such as Conchita Montenegro, Sara Montiel, Victoria Abril, and Penélope Cruz. Focusing on examples in which costumes have discursive autonomy, it explores how costumes engage with broader issues of identity and, relatedly, how costumes impact everyday practices and fashion trends beyond cinema. Drawing on case studies from multiple periods, films by contemporary directors and genres, and red-carpet events such as the Oscars and Goya Awards, Fashioning Spanish Cinema contributes a pivotal Spanish perspective to expanding interdisciplinary work on the intersections between film and fashion."--

In Refiguring Spain, Marsha Kinder has gathered a collection of new essays that explore the central role played by film, television, newspapers, and art museums in redefining Spain's national/cultural identity and its position in the world economy during the post-Franco era. By emphasizing issues of historical recuperation, gender and sexuality, and the marketing of Spain's peaceful political transformation, the contributors demonstrate that Spanish cinema and other forms of Spanish media culture created new national stereotypes and strengthened the nation's place in the global market and on the global stage. These essays consider a diverse array of texts, ranging from recent films by Almodóvar, Saura, Erice, Miró, Bigas Luna, Gutiérrez Aragón, and Eloy de la Iglesia to media coverage of the 1993 elections. Francoist cinema and other popular media are examined in light of strategies used to redefine Spain's cultural identity. The importance of the documentary, the appropriation of Hollywood film, and the significance of gender and sexuality in Spanish cinema are also discussed, as is the discourse of the Spanish media star--whether involving film celebrities like Rita Hayworth and Antonio Banderas or historical figures such as Cervantes. The volume concludes with an investigation of larger issues of government policy in relation to film and media, including a discussion of the financing of Spanish cinema and an exploration of the political dynamics of regional television and art museums. Drawing on a wide range of critical discourses, including feminist, postcolonial, and queer theory, political economy, cultural history, and museum studies, Refiguring Spain is the first comprehensive anthology on Spanish cinema in the English language. Contributors. Peter Besas, Marvin D'Lugo, Selma Reuben Holo, Dona M. Kercher, Marsha Kinder, Jaume Martí-Olivella, Richard Maxwell, Hilary L. Neroni, Paul Julian Smith, Roland B. Tolentino, Stephen Tropiano, Kathleen M. Vernon, Iñaki Zabaleta

Bourdieusian Media Studies illustrates the merits of Pierre Bourdieu’s cultural sociological approach in the field of media studies, explicating exactly what a “Bourdieusian” analysis of media would entail, and what new understandings of the digital media landscape would emerge from such an analysis. The author applies the Bourdieusian concepts of social field, capital, and habitus to understand the social conditions of media and cultural production, media users’ practices and preferences, and the power dynamics entailed in social media networks. Based on a careful illumination of Bourdieu’s concepts, epistemological assumptions, and methodological approach, the book presents a range of case studies covering television production, the field of media studies itself, media use, and social media networks. Illustrating the craft of Bourdieusian media studies and shedding new light on key dynamics of digital media culture, this book will appeal to scholars and students working in media studies, media theory, sociology of media, digital media, and cultural production.

Though cinema arrived in Spain and Portugal at the end of the nineteenth century, national and industrial problems as well as the dictatorships of Salazar and Caetano (in Portugal) and Franco (in Spain) meant Iberian cinemas were isolated from European cultural trends. The strict censorship in both countries limited the themes and artistic practices adopted. A specific cinematographic language, in many cases full of metaphors and symbolism, sought alternatives to the imposed official discourse and preconceived definitions of supposed national identities. By contrast, from the 1970s onwards, Spain and Portugal experienced a great change in their societies: the arrival of democracy widened not just the panorama of film production and criticism, but also opened the film industry to women participation in areas historically assigned to men. Focusing on Portuguese and Spanish cinema, this collection brings together research about women and their status in relation to Iberian visual culture. The volume contributes to ongoing debates about the position of women in the cinemas of Portugal and Spain through a revision of feminist theory as well as new accounts of film history. It also aims to promote comparisons between Iberian cinemas and visual culture from different regions, a topic that is almost unexplored in academia, despite the similar histories of the two Iberian countries, particularly throughout the twentieth century.