Description
Book SynopsisThe rise of consumerism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries radically changed the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us. And, as it has throughout history, the social construct of ideal masculinity both reflects and responds to that lived reality, helping individuals adapt. Through a close study of Spanish film of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, this book investigates hegemonic, or dominant, masculinity in the wake of dramatic consumer changes that occurred in Spain. It explores the ways in which masculine identity as represented in Spanish film positions itself in relation to desire and consumption, focusing especially on representations of hegemonic masculinity from the almost 40 year dictatorship of General Francisco Franco through the transition to democracy and into the early 1990s.Using psychoanalytic theory as employed primarily by Todd McGowan and Slavoj Žižek, this book analyzes cinematic representations of hegemonic masculine models, along with t
Trade ReviewThis discussion of a key set of tensions around Spanish masculinities on film will be of value to students of Spanish film at all levels. It is not only a useful and exceptionally full survey that covers many canonical films but also an elegant introduction to key issues in masculinity studies and in critical gender studies more widely. It represents a finely tuned and accessible complement to existing film historical work, especially in relation to the films of the 1940s to 1960s, and has its own instructive focus on how prohibitions and taboos, desires and the consumption of goods and images play out on screen and in society. -- Chris Perriam, University of Manchester
Table of ContentsIntroduction – Masculinity and Consumerism in Spanish Cinema Chapter 1 – Hegemonic Masculinity under the Dictatorship Chapter 2 – Breakdown of the Hegemonic Male Model Chapter 3 – The New Spain: Desire and Commodification of the Spanish Body Chapter 4 – Individualism, Alienation and Adaptation Conclusion
