Ambigua, Revista de Investigaciones sobre Género y Estudios Culturales, n.º 7, 2020, pp. 211-228. ISSN: 2386-8708 House of Strangers (Mankiewicz, 1949): Iconografía noir y violencia con un trasfondo shakespeariano House of Strangers (Mankiewicz, 1949): Noir iconography and violence with a Shakespearean background Francisca Portillo Laguna Universidad de Málaga
[email protected] Fecha de recepción: 31/07/2020 Fecha de evaluación: 15/09/2020 Fecha de aceptación: 16/11/2019 Abstract: The aim of the present research is to analyse the violence underlying the autocratic proceedings of a father upon his otherwise submissive and resentful sons under the frame of a Shakespearean background. The starting point has been the cinematographic adaptation House of Strangers (1949) by Joseph L. Mankiewicz which is based on one of the most acclaimed tragedies by the English bard, King Lear (1606). The theme of violence acquires relevance when the daughters who despise Lear are transformed into sons by Mankiewicz, revealing how roughness and brutality not only can be inherited and enhanced but, especially, that it can be surmounted and transcended given the proper conditions. These topics are considered not only from a genre perspective but from a very specific cinematographic context, that of noir films, which contribute with a whole set of motifs, characters, and atmosphere. With regards to gender considerations, the main aspects examined include the different treatment given to male and female characters in labour and familiar contexts. While women are traditionally circumscribed within the family environment men are more frequently enclosed as leading roles in a social and working milieu.