Itxaso del Castillo and Alejandro Melero. Dialogue on the Monstrous-Feminine in Spanish Cinema

Abstract

While Barbara Creed's celebrated theory of the monstrous-feminine (The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis [1993]) continues to demonstrate its relevance in dissecting the female body and its metamorphoses in Anglo-Saxon audiovisual production, it is curious that it has been so unfruitful when applied to the discursive analysis of Spanish cinema. The historical context of this cinema deployed a dense repressive apparatus over female subjectivity during the Franco regime, which was subsequently dismantled during the democratic transition and has opened up to a litany of dissents and ruptures in contemporary times that extend beyond the horror genre, thus providing excellent ground for exploring connections and tensions with Creed's monstrous-feminine. Moderated by Sergi Sánchez (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), co-editor of Comparative Cinema, the dialogue between Dr. Itxaso del Castillo (University of the Basque Country), author of Mujeres furiosas. El monstruo femenino en el cine de terror (2024, EHU), and Dr. Alejandro Melero (Carlos III University), expert in fantasy-horror, queer cinema, and the sexploitation genre, aims to open new paths and interpretations in the historical relationships between the monstrous-feminine and Spanish cinema, based on sequences selected specifically for the discussion.

This initiative was held under the research project “Producción de nuevas subjetividades en los personajes femeninos y las actrices: el cine español del final de la dictadura a la post-transición (1975-1992) (Ministry of Science and Innovation, REF: PID2021-124377NB-I00)”, led by Gonzalo de Lucas.