Giving the Mother her Life Back: A Possible Genealogy of Monstrous Motherhood in Spanish Cinema

Abstract

This article proposes a genealogy of the representation of monstrous motherhood in Spanish cinema based on Luce Irigaray’s (1993) call to resymbolize maternal experiences and relationships. In this exercise of critical revision and resignification, figures such as the castrating mother, the bad mother, and the filicidal mother will be analyzed to explore potential forms of resistance and transgression against the dominant ideology of motherhood. Through this analysis, the article offers a situated reading of motherhood as a contradictory and politically meaningful experience.