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This book, through a close reading of eleven films from the silent era to the present, analyzes filmic responses to the tragic and the enduring presence of forms, themes and motifs that belong to the tragic tradition in Spanish Cinema. It argues that a tragic aura permeates many of the films produced in Spain in the 20th and 21st centuries, and constitutes not only an essential element of these films but also a key factor in their aesthetic and ideological efficacy and commercial success.
Taking into account key transformations in the ethical, ideological and aesthetic arenas, the films analyzed in this work are divided into two parts. Both sections will begin with a general introduction that puts these films into their historical, social and political context, and will close with a conclusion. The first part is comprised of three chapters in which I analyze a series of influential films produced between 1930 and 1979. These films reflect individual challenges and tragic conflicts that are oftentimes a metaphorical expression of the struggle between modernity and tradition that characterizes Spanish culture during the years leading up to the Civil War (1936-1939) through the late seventies.
The second part of this book is comprised of two chapters that are evidence of the enduring presence of the tragic mode in films produced between the last decades of the 20th century and the present. During this time frame, while enjoying the benefits of being a democratic country, and a member of the European Union since 1986, Spain and the Spaniards confront different individual, social, and political challenges such as gender discrimination, social inequality, and economic uneasiness that, as reflected in these films, oftentimes acquire a tragic tone.
