The Image of Spain on the Cinema Screen

OBJECTIVES
This Course provides students with a route-map through those Spanish movies, as well as those
from other countries, which deal with the image of Spain from different perspectives. There have been
times when that same image has become distorted for reasons which are not, strictly speaking,
cinematographic in character. Bringing to the fore the key aspects of that distortion, while analyzing a
range of discourse types in film, can help to bring into focus the role of Cinema as a generator of cultural
stereotypes. Keeping visiting students in mind, this Course spans a wide range of cultural perspectives,
thus taking it beyond the confines of the cinematic and the historical sensu stricto.

METHODOLOGY
Given the amount of accumulated pedagogical experience that exists with regard to this kind of
subject matter, as well as taking into account the specific needs of students, the aim of the class
sessions is to ensure the fruitful interaction of the theoretical and practical dimensions of the study
process, while also potentializing the exploration of those aspects of the Spanish language to which, in
terms of comprehension and expression, the filmography being studied draws attention.

SYLLABUS
Practical Section
Anthology of sequences taken from key movies and from the work of key directors:
Escenas Españolas Lumiére.
Sangre y Arena (Fred Niblo, 1922).
Carmen (Cecil B. Demille, 1915).
Carmen Burlesque (Charles Chaplin, 1916).
Carmen (Ernst Lubistch, 1918).
Carmen (Jacques Feyder, 1926).
El misterio de la Puerta del Sol (Francisco Elías, 1929).
Morena Clara (Florián Rey, 1936).
Carmen, la de Triana (Florián Rey, 1938).
El barbero de Sevilla (Benito Perojo, 1938).
Suspiros de España (Benito Perojo, 1938).
La vaquilla (Luis García Berlanga, 1985).
El espinazo del diablo (Guillermo del Toro, 2001).
Extranjeros de sí mismos (Javier Rioyo and José Luis López Linares, 2000).
Tierra y libertad (Ken Loach, 1993).
Por quién doblan las campanas (Sam Word, 1943).
Canciones para después de una guerra (Basilio Martín Patino, 1973).
Caza de brujas (Irvin Winkler, 1991).
La ley del silencio (Elia Kazan, 1954).
Perseguido (Seymour Fredman y Peter Graham Scout, 1952).
El ángel vestido de rojo (Nunnally Johnson, 1960).
El sueño del mono loco (Fernando Trueba, 1989)
Two Much (Fernando Trueba, 1996).
Abre los ojos (Alejandro Amenábar, 1997).
Los otros (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001).
 

As far as this selection of movies is concerned, some of them will be screened in the Audiovisual
Lecture Room, while others will be viewed by students elsewhere, according to the criteria set down by
the Lecturer in terms of the evolution of the theoretical dimension of the Course plan.
Theoretical Section
The Image of Spain in Silent Movies.
The Image of Spain during the Change-over to the Talkies.
The Image of Spain during the Franco Era.
The Image of Spain in the Era of Democracy.