The films of Pedro Almodovar have demonstrated great crossover appeal in their ability to attract both mainstream and marginal audiences and to command critical as well as commercial success. The contributors to this anthology of critical essays seek, through close readings of the director's 10 feature films, to analyze the multiple contexts of Almodovar's phenomenal international success. This volume offers a corrective to the glib approaches that have dominated previous discussions of Almodovar's films, which have treated them, on the one hand, as simply the latest contribution to the travel poster image of passionate, "romantic Spain," or, on the other, as historical joyrides through the global pop culture scene. As the first comprehensive study of Almodovar's cinema to be published in North America, the book is also noteworthy for the range of critical and theoretical methodologies that the contributors bring to the study of his works. Drawing upon disciplines that run from psychoanalysis, feminism, queer theory, film and media studies, and cultural theory to the empirical study of audience response, the authors nevertheless share a concern to illuminate the specifically Spanish context of the director's films. While this volume serves the important function of introducing American audiences to post-Franco Spanish culture, it also pursues the complementary goal of projecting contemporary Spain into the critical debate on the forms and functioning of postmodern culture and society.
The films of Pedro Almodovar have demonstrated great crossover appeal in their ability to attract both mainstream and marginal audiences and to command critical as well as commercial success. The contributors to this anthology of critical essays seek, through close readings of the director's 10 feature films, to analyze the multiple contexts of Almodovar's phenomenal international success. This volume offers a corrective to the glib approaches that have dominated previous discussions of Almodovar's films, which have treated them, on the one hand, as simply the latest contribution to the travel poster image of passionate, "romantic Spain," or, on the other, as historical joyrides through the global pop culture scene. As the first comprehensive study of Almodovar's cinema to be published in North America, the book is also noteworthy for the range of critical and theoretical methodologies that the contributors bring to the study of his works. Drawing upon disciplines that run from psychoanalysis, feminism, queer theory, film and media studies, and cultural theory to the empirical study of audience response, the authors nevertheless share a concern to illuminate the specifically Spanish context of the director's films. While this volume serves the important function of introducing American audiences to post-Franco Spanish culture, it also pursues the complementary goal of projecting contemporary Spain into the critical debate on the forms and functioning of postmodern culture and society.
Preface
Introduction: Pedro Almodóvar, Postmodern Auteur by Kathleen M.
Vernon and Barbara Morris
Pepi, Luci, Bom and Dark Habits: Lesbian Comedy, Lesbian Tragedy by
Paul Julian Smith
Sense or Sensibility, or Latent Heterosexuality and Labyrinth of
Passion by James Mandrell
Melodrama Against Itself: What Have I Done to Deserve This? by
Kathleen M. Vernon
Tauromachy as a Spectacle of Gender Revision in Matador by Leora
Lev
Almodóvar's Laws of Subjectivity and Desire by Barbara Morris
Figuring Hysteria: Disorder and Desire in Three Films by Almodóvar
by Brad Epps
Almodóvar's City of Desire by Marvin D'Lugo
From Matricide to Motherlove: High Heels by Marsha Kinder
Almodóvar's Postmodern Cinema: A Work in Progress… by Victor
Fuentes
From Rough Trade to Free Trade: Toward a Contextual Analysis of
Audience Response to the Films of Pedro Almodóvar by Wendy
Rolph
Filmography
Selected Bibliography: "Almodóvar in America"
Index
This book offers a corrective to the glib approaches that have dominated previous responses to Almodovar's films, which have read them, alternately, as the latest contribution to a travel poster image of passionate Spain, or as ahistorical joyrides through the global pop culture scene. Drawing upon a range of critical disciplines, the contributors situate Almodovar's work vis-a-vis its multiple contexts in postmodern society and culture.
KATHLEEN M. VERNON is Assistant Professor in the Department of
Hispanic Languages and Literature at the State University of New
York, Stony Brook. She is the editor of Juan Benet (1986) and The
Spanish Civil War and the Visual Arts (1990), and the author of
numerous articles on contemporary Spanish and Latin American
literature and film in journals such as Film Quarterly, Film and
History, La Torre, Hispania, and Revista de Estudios Hispanicos.
She is currently completing a study of the representation of memory
and history in post-civil war Spanish narrative, novel and
film.
BARBARA MORRIS is an independent scholar working on contemporary
Spanish film and literature. She is the author of essays in Chicago
Review, Critical Inquiry, Letras Peninsulares, Revista de Estudios
Hispanicos, Espana Contemporanea, and Anales de la Literatura
Espanola Contemporanea. She is currently writing a book on
configurations of gender in post-Franco Spanish cinema.
?An important study of Almodovar and his widely acclaimed films.
Each of the ten contributors carefully analyzes one or more of
Almodovar films while engaging with current cultural debates.
Rounding out this impressive volume are an intelligent
introduction, two dozen photos, a filmography, and a bibliography
highlighting the US critical reception of Almodovar's films.
Theoretically sound and eminently readable, this work will appeal
to scholars and aficionados alike. All academic
libraries.?-Choice
"An important study of Almodovar and his widely acclaimed films.
Each of the ten contributors carefully analyzes one or more of
Almodovar films while engaging with current cultural debates.
Rounding out this impressive volume are an intelligent
introduction, two dozen photos, a filmography, and a bibliography
highlighting the US critical reception of Almodovar's films.
Theoretically sound and eminently readable, this work will appeal
to scholars and aficionados alike. All academic libraries."-Choice
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