Burning Darkness

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Description

From the origins of the New Spanish Cinema in the 1950s to the end of the last century, Burning Darkness features essays on a selection of essential films by Spain's most important directors, including Pedro Almodóvar, Luis Buñuel, Víctor Erice, Ventura Pons, and others. Contributors focus on current theoretical debates and issues of representation, politics, cultural identity, and aesthetics. Rather than historically surveying Spanish films, the book encourages a deep reading of these essential works and the ways they cast light on specific aspects of Spanish society and its recent history. Accessibly written, it will appeal not only to students and scholars but also to anyone interested in Spanish cinema.

List of Illustrations

Introduction
Joan Ramon Resina

1. Rehearsing for Modernity in ¡Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall!
(Luis García Berlanga, 1952)
Eva Woods Peiró

2. Existential Crossroads in Muerte de un ciclista
(Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955)
Andrés Lema-Hincapié

3. Viridiana Coca-Cola
(Luis Buñuel, 1961)
Tom Conley

4. El espíritu de la colmena: Memory, Nostalgia, Trauma
(Víctor Erice, 1973)
Chris Perriam

5. A Poetics of Splitting: Memory and Identity in La prima Angélica
(Carlos Saura, 1974)
Àngel Quintana

6. Ambiguous Disenchantment in El corazón del bosque
(Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, 1979)
Ireni Depetris Chauvin

7. Los paraísos perdidos: Cinema of Return and Repetition
(Basilio Martín Patino, 1985)
Tatjana Pavlovic´

8. (M)Othering Strategies in El pájaro de la felicidad
(Pilar Miró, 1993)
Jaume Martí-Olivella

9. Abjection, Trauma, and the Material Image: La madre muerta
(Juanma Bajo Ulloa, 1993)
Jo Labanyi

10. The Catalan Body Politic as Aired in Teta i la lluna
(Bigas Luna, 1995)
Dominic Keown

11. Genre and Screen Violence: Revisiting Tesis
(Alejandro Amenábar, 1996)
Barry Jordan

12. Conceptualizing “the Impact” in Los amantes del círculo polar
(Julio Medem, 1998)
Robert A. Davidson

13. Immortal/Undead: The Body and the Transmission of Tradition in Amic/Amat
(Ventura Pons, 1999)
Josep-Anton Fernàndez

14. Imitation of Life: Transsexuality and Transtextuality in Todo sobre mi madre
(Pedro Almodóvar, 1999)
Esteve Riambau

15. The Construction of the Cinematic Image: En construcción
(José Luis Guerín, 2000)
Joan Ramon Resina

Works Cited
List of Contributors
Index

Sujets

• Latin American
• Película fotográfica
• Visual culture
• Latin America
• Cinema
• Caribbean
• Film

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 16 juillet 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791478059
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

Burning Darkness A Half Century of Spanish Cinema

edited by Joan Ramon Resina with assistance from Andrés Lema-Hincapié

Burning Darkness

SUNY series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture Jorge J. E. Gracia and Rosemary Geidorfer Feal, editors

Burning Darkness A Half Century of Spanish Cinema

Edited by Joan Ramon Resina

with the assistance of Andrés Lema-Hincapié

Published by State University of New York Press

© 2008 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Burning darkness : a half century of Spanish cinema / edited by Joan Ramon  Resina, with assistance from Andrés Lema-Hincapié.  p. cm. — (Suny series in Latin American and Iberian thought and culture;  320)  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-0-7914-7503-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)  1. Motion pictures—Spain—History. I. Resina, Joan Ramon, 1956– II. Lema-Hincapié, Andrés.

PN1993.5.S7B87 2008 791.430946—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2007039249

List of Illustrations

Introduction  Joan Ramon Resina

Contents

 1. Rehearsing for Modernity in¡Bienvenido, Mister Marshall!  (Luis García Berlanga, 1952) Eva Woods Peiró

 2. Existential Crossroads inMuerte de un ciclista( Juan Antonio  Bardem, 1955) Andrés Lema-Hincapié

 3.Viridiana Coca-Cola (Luis Buñuel, 1961) Tom Conley

 4.El espíritu de la colmena: Memory, Nostalgia, Trauma  (Víctor Erice, 1973) Chris Perriam

 5. A Poetics of Splitting: Memory and Identity in La primaAngélica(Carlos Saura, 1974)  Àngel Quintana

 6. Ambiguous Disenchantment inEl corazón del bosque  (Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón,1979) Irení Depetris-Chauvin

 7.Los paraísos perdidos: Cinema of Return and Repetition  (Basilio Martín Patino, 1985) Tatjana Pavlovic´

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Contents

 8. (M)Othering Strategies inEl pájaro de la felicidad  (Pilar Miró, 1993) Jaume Martí-Olivella

 9. Abjection, Trauma, and the Material Image:La madre muerta  ( Juanma Bajo Ulloa, 1993) Jo Labanyi

10. The Catalan Body Politic as Aired inLa teta i la lluna  (Bigas Luna, 1994) Dominic Keown

11. Genre and Screen Violence: RevisitingTesis  (Alejandro Amenábar, 1995) Barry Jordan

125

143

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12. Conceptualizing “the Impact” inLos amantes del Círculo Polar  ( Julio Medem, 1998) 195 Robert A. Davidson

13. Immortal/Undead: The Body and the Transmission of  Tradition inAmic/Amat(Ventura Pons, 1998) Josep-Anton Fernàndez

14. Imitation of Life: Transsexuality and Transtextuality inTodo  sobre mi madre(Pedro Almodóvar, 1999)  Esteve Riambau

15. The Construction of the Cinematic Image:En construcción  ( José Luis Guerín, 2000) Ramon Resina Joan

Works Cited

List of Contributors

Index

211

235

255

277

295

301

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 7.

Fig. 8.

Fig. 9.

Contents

Illustrations

Villar del Río’s square in¡Bienvenido, Mister Marshall! Courtesy of Filmoteca Española.

Lucía Bosé as María José and Alberto Closas as Juan in Muerte de un ciclista. Courtesy of Video Mercury Films, S.A.U.

Coca-Cola and the Civil Guard. Courtesy of Criterion Collection DVD.

Ana (Torrent) and Isabel (Tellería) inEl espíritu de la colmena. Courtesy of Mercury Video Films S.A.U.

José Luis López Vázquez as Luis and María Clara Fernández de Loayza as Angélica inLa prima Angélica. Courtesy of Elías Querejeta P.C.

Angela Molina and Víctor Valverde as Amparo and Suso inEl corazón del bosque. Courtesy of Arándano S.A.

Three old women. Courtesy of La Linterna Mágica.

Framing Carmen Figueres (Mercedes Sampietro) in Pilar Miró’s painterly filmEl pájaro de la felicidad. Courtesy of ANOLA Films.

The poster forLa madre muerta. Courtesy of Sogepaq and Filmoteca Española.

Fig. 10. Human tower inLa teta i la lluna. Courtesy of Lolafilms.

Fig. 11. Ana Torrent as Angela inTesis. Courtesy of Sogecine.

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Illustrations

Fig. 12. Paper airplane at rest. Courtesy of Sociedad General  de Cine.

Fig. 13. Rosa Maria Sardà and Irene Montalà as Fanny and Alba  inAmic/Amat. Courtesy of Els Films de la Rambla.

Fig. 14. Cecilia Roth as Manuela. Courtesy of El Deseo.

Fig. 15. Iván and Juani. Courtesy of Ovideo TV.

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Introduction

J R R OAN AMON ESINA

Over the last half century, visual stories have claimed an ever-larger share of the popular culture, as literature initiated its gradual descent to a quantitatively and qualitatively more restricted audience. During this time, film has achieved technical sophistication and social prestige. It is now firmly established as an academic discipline in its own right, enjoying pride of place within the larger paradigm of Cultural Studies. But although Spanish film is today the object of teaching and research in many departments, analytical resources are still scarce in English. The existence of a few histories of Spanish cinema (the best of which, John Hopewell’sOut of the Past, has long been out of print), of specialized work on a few privileged directors (Buñuel, Saura, and Almodóvar), and a handful of collections of essays (notably those edited by Peter William Evans and Barry Jordan) does not cover the interpretive needs of the English-speaking student of Spanish cinema, who is often at the mercy of reviews of scant exegetical value. The present volume is intended as a contribution to remedy this relative dearth by offering a set of original pieces on carefully selected directors and films spanning the period from the origins of the New Spanish Cinema in the 1950s to the end of the twentieth century. It would be easy to draw attention to what is missing and to dispute the choices made. Every selection entails judgments of value and one chooses at one’s peril. But it is also true that books have a fate. However, rather than recounting the history of the editorial choices that have led to this particular constellation of films, I would like to use this introduction to provide a broad sense of the directions of Spanish cinema in the years studied by the contributors. It is not a question of providing a compact history of a half century of Spanish film but rather of sketching a sense of its development, however simplified or simplistic the result may be.

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