New Mythological Figures in Spanish Cinema : Dissident Bodies under Franco

Abstract

In the 1970s, especially after Franco’s death in 1975, Spanish cinema was bursting at the seams. Numerous film directors broke free from the ancient taboos which had reigned under the dictatorship. They introduced characters who, through their bodies, transgress the traditional borders of social, cultural and sexual identities. Post- Franco cinema exhibits women, homosexuals, transsexuals, and delinquents in new and challenging ways. Under Franco rule, all of these dissident bodies were ‘lost'. Here, they reflect new mythological figures, inhabiting an idealised body form (a prototypical body). These new images transform the stereotyped bodies as they question ancient archetypal values. Spanish cinema offers a dazzling performance transforming previous dissident bodies into the new protagonists of its national cinema.