Pleasure and Historical Memory in Spanish Gothic Film

Davies, Ann

Bulletin of Hispanic Studies (2019), 96, (4), 397–411.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/bhs.2019.23
Language: English
Pages: 15

Abstract

This essay argues that scholars of Spanish culture are too ready to assume a reading of Gothic texts in terms of historical memory, or the rectification of injustices that occurred during the Franco era. It suggests that there has been a neglect of the question of the pleasures of reading or viewing the Gothic, even though these pleasures may well undermine the desire to do retrospective justice to the victims of Franco. Using as a case study the film Insensibles (Juan Carlos Medina, 2012) this essay proposes some examples of pleasures that serve to disrupt the recuperation of historical memory, and calls for better awareness of the pleasures of genre in analysing relevant texts.

Este ensayo sostiene que los que investigan la cultura española adoptan demasiado fácilmente una lectura de textos góticos en términos de la memoria histórica, o sea la rectificación de injusticias que ocurrieron durante la época franquista. Sugiere que se ha olvidado la cuestión de los placeres de leer o ver lo gótico, aunque estos placeres bien que puedan debilitar los esfuerzos de conseguir una justicia retroactiva para las víctimas de Franco. Utilizando como ejemplo el film Insensibles (Juan Carlos Medina, 2012) el ensayo propone unos instantes de placeres que sirven para estorbar la recuperación de la memoria histórica, y exige una percepción más clara de los placeres de género en cuanto al análisis de textos relevantes.

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