Modes of the Tragic in Spanish Cinema

Description

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. 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