This book focuses on expressions of the tragic in Spanish cinema. Its main premise is that elements from the classical and modern tragic tradition persist and permeate many of the cultural works created in Spain, especially the films on which the book centers this study. The inscrutability and indolence of the gods, the mutability of fortune, the recurrent narratives of fall and redemption, the unavoidable clash between ethical forces, the tension between free will and fate, the violent resolution of both internal and external conflicts, and the overwhelming feelings of guilt that haunt the tragic heroine/hero are consistent aspects that traverse Spanish cinema as a response to universal queries about human suffering and death.
Author(s): Luis M. González
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 227
City: London
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction: The Tragic Mode and Spanish Cinema
A World in Crisis
The Modern Tragic Subject
Rebellion, Transgression, and Suffering
Fate and Freedom
A Meaningless and Impenetrable World
Circular Structure
Book Layout
Chapter 2: The Fallen Woman: A Tragic Approach
La aldea maldita: Fall, Forgiveness, and Redemption
Inclement Heaven
The Return of the Prodigal Daughter
Poetics of Fall and Redemption: La hija de Juan Simón
Carmela’s Defiance
Transgression and Fall
Carmela as the Scapegoat
There Is No Redemption Without Death
Chapter 3: The Condemned Land: Tragedy and the Rural World
Family Business: La laguna negra
Divine Punishment
The Return of the Prodigal Son
Back to the Beginning
The Law of Desire: Condenados
Repressing Desire
The Power of Feelings
The Circle Closed
Chapter 4: Tragedy, Power, and Resistance
Introduction
Desire, Power, and Resistance: La tía Tula
Under Tula’s Rule
Tula’s Resistance
From Resistance to Domination
Tragedy and the Politics of Mourning: 7 días de enero
The Two Spains
Family Debts
Justice and Reparations
Chapter 5: Tragedy and Social Exclusion
Introduction
“Live Fast, Die Young and Have a Good-Looking Corpse”: Deprisa, deprisa
Political Amnesia
Life is a Party
The Fall
Rethinking Family: The Limits of Freedom in La buena estrella
“One-Eye”: Unbearable Homelessness
Never, Nothing, Nobody: Daniel, “Pretty Face”
Time Is Up
Chapter 6: The Recurrence of the Tragic
Poetics of Love, Desire, and Death: La novia
A World in Ruins
A Ghost from the Future
Knives Are Drawn
Of Mothers and Daughters: Julieta
“The Past Is Never Dead; It Is Not Even Past”
Man in Black
Scenes from a Marriage
Mothers and Daughters
Chapter 7: Epilogue
Works Cited
Bibliography
Filmography
Index
