Short description:

The Politics of Age and Disability in Contemporary Spanish Film examines the onscreen construction of adolescent, elderly, and disabled subjects in Spanish cinema from 1992 to the present, with detailed discussion of six contemporary films (by Salvador García Ruiz, Achero Ma?as, Santiago Aguilar & Luis Guridi, Marcos Carnevale, Alejandro Amenábar, and Pedro Almodóvar) and supporting reference to the production of other prominent and emerging filmmakers.

Long description:

The Politics of Age and Disability in Contemporary Spanish Film examines the onscreen construction of adolescent, elderly, and disabled subjects in Spanish cinema from 1992 to the present. Applying a dual lens of film analysis and theory drawn from the allied fields of youth, age, and disability studies, this study is set both within and against a conversation on cultural diversity?with respect to gender, sexual, and ethnic identity?which has driven not only much of the past decade?s most visible and fruitful scholarship on representation in Spanish film, but also the broader parameters of discourse on post-Transition Spain in the humanities. Presenting an engaging, and heretofore under-explored, interdisciplinary approach to images of multiculturalism in what has emerged as one of recent Spain?s most vibrant areas of cultural production, this book brings a fresh, while still complementary, critical sensibility to the field of contemporary Peninsular film studies through its detailed discussion of six contemporary films (by Salvador García Ruiz, Achero Ma?as, Santiago Aguilar & Luis Guridi, Marcos Carnevale, Alejandro Amenábar, and Pedro Almodóvar) and supporting reference to the production of other prominent and emerging filmmakers.

"Marr presents fresh interpretations that shed new light on well-known works, offering insights for seasoned scholars of Spanish cultural studies, disability studies, and/or studies of aging, as well as an accessible entry point for non-specialists. The book will be a crucial source for future studies of the six films analyzed, and the individual chapters will also be useful for graduate and advanced undergraduate seminars on Spanish film and disability studies." - Julie Avril Minich, The University of Texas at Austin, USA

"Marr's oppositional analysis of film's formal properties is welcome not merely because of his rich engagement with the film as an artistic test, but also because of what it reveals abut the insufficiency of some approaches to disability. That is, I join the critic in highlighting how intellectual disabilities are often overshadowed by physical disabilities in popular culture, public discourse and even, perhaps, within disability studies generally speaking."- Benjamin Fraser, East Carolina University, USA

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Framing Cultural Pluralism Anew in Contemporary Spanish Cinema Studies  I. Adolescence and Alterity 1.The "Angry Girl" in Mensaka, Páginas de una historia ("Mensaka, Pages from a Story") (Salvador García Ruiz, 1998) 2. A Lad Indeed: Boyhood Friendship and the Politics of Masculinity in El Bola ("Pellet") (Achero Ma?as, 2000)  II. Senescence and Subjectivity 3.The Black Comedy of Aging in Justino, un asesino de la tercera edad ("Justino, a Senior Citizen Killer") ("La Cuadrilla" or Santiago Aguilar & Luis Guridi, 1994) 4.Senescent Seduction in Elsa y Fred ("Elsa and Fred") (Marcos Carnevale, 2004)  III. Discourses of Disability 5.The Unseen Inside: Mental Illness as Disability in Mar adentro ("The Sea Inside")(Alejandro Amenábar, 2004) 6. A Pluralistic Vision: On Blindness and the Break with Auteurist "Autocracy" in Los abrazos rotos ("Broken Embraces") (Pedro Almodóvar, 2009)Afterword