Screening the Transition : Spanish Cinema and the Challenges of Democracy

Federico Bonaddio

ISBN 10: 1835953468 / ISBN 13: 9781835953464

Editore: Intellect Okt 2026, 2026

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Neuware - A timely study of Spanish cinema during the country's transition to democracy, including how popular and auteur films grappled with the authoritarian past. Screening the Transition examines how Spanish cinema produced in the years immediately following Francisco Franco's death articulated--through its narratives and characterizations--the social and cultural challenges encountered during the country's transition to democracy. These films reflect emergent post-dictatorship realities, including increased openness toward sexuality and nudity; the erosion of traditional family structures; persistent attachments to, and reckonings with, the Francoist past; the development of political plurality and expanded freedom of expression; and various forms of marginalization, whether economic or based on gender and sexuality. In doing so, the analysis conceptualizes Spain's transition not solely in political terms, as is commonly the case, but as a profoundly personal and affective process.Federico Bonaddio demonstrates the limitations of cinema in this period, which at times revealed an inability to transcend deep-seated prejudices and forms of reticence cultivated over nearly four decades of authoritarian rule. These limitations surface in the prurient treatment of female nudity and sexual violence; in the deployment of comedy to belittle or trivialize democratic change; in a preference for metaphor and allegory over direct political engagement; and in the restricted investigative ambitions of historical dramas.Considering both popular and auteur cinema, the book is primarily concerned with how filmmaking registered the difficulties of consigning the dictatorship fully to the past, despite the so-called pact of forgetting promoted by political elites to facilitate national reconciliation.

Codice articolo 9781835953464

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Screening the Transition : Spanish Cinema and the Challenges of Democracy
• Editore: Intellect Okt 2026
• Data di pubblicazione: 2026
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 1835953468
• ISBN 13: 9781835953464
• Rilegatura: Buch
• Condizione: Neu
• Dimensioni: 244 L x 170 A x 37 P (millimetri) 244 millimetri di larghezza per 170 millimetri di altezza per 37 millimetri di profondità

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Screening the Transition examines how Spanish cinema produced in the years immediately following Franco’s death articulated―through its narratives and characterizations―the social and cultural challenges encountered during the country’s transition to democracy. These films reflect emergent post-dictatorship realities, including increased openness toward sexuality and nudity; the erosion of traditional family structures; persistent attachments to, and reckonings with, the Francoist past; the development of political plurality and expanded freedom of expression; and various forms of marginalization, whether economic or based on gender and sexuality. In doing so, the analysis conceptualizes Spain’s transition not solely in political terms, as is commonly the case, but as a profoundly personal and affective process.

Bonaddio demonstrates the limitations of cinema in this period, which at times revealed an inability to transcend deep-seated prejudices and forms of reticence cultivated over nearly four decades of authoritarian rule. These limitations surface in the prurient treatment of female nudity and sexual violence; in the deployment of comedy to belittle or trivialize democratic change; in a preference for metaphor and allegory over direct political engagement; and in the restricted investigative ambitions of historical dramas.

Considering both popular and auteur cinema, the book is primarily concerned with how filmmaking registered the difficulties of consigning the dictatorship fully to the past, despite the so-called 'pact of forgetting' promoted by political elites to facilitate national reconciliation.

It provides a timely and valuable contribution to the study of Spanish cinema during the Transition, illuminating a politically charged period through close analysis of key films. By uncovering little-studied works―such as the films of the destape―it fills an important scholarly gap and enriches our understanding of this transformative era.