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SPANISH TRANSITIONS: REPRESENTATION OF TRANSGENDER CHARACTERS IN SPANISH FILM BY ARNAU ROIG-MORA DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communications and Media in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Angharad Valdivia, Chair, Director of Research Professor Gerard Coll-Planas, Universitat de Vic Professor Paula Treichler Professor Richard Rodriguez, University of California, Riverside ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the different representations of transgender characters in Spanish cinema since their appearance in the 1970s up until today. The history of Spain in the last forty years, with its radical political changes, yields extremely fertile transgender case studies, especially in Spanish films, which become sites of struggle and negotiation of meaning, definition and understanding of gender, sex and sexuality. The cases in which transgender characters have been protagonists of Spanish movies –and thus explored and portrayed in more depth- give us first-hand information on the different ways of thinking about gender, and the different ways of thinking and picturing a topic that was previously hidden from the public arena. Furthermore, the systems of codes and analogies that a culture uses and reproduces in its media are a perfect site to further investigate the sets of beliefs that a society holds true or privileges over others as defining traits. In order to do such investigation, this dissertation develops three archetypes of representation that classify and make sense of all the movies and their representations, highlighting the recurring tropes, narrative tools or privileged ideological discourses embedded in them. By organizing the titles in archetypes, but also paying attention to their temporality and social changes around transgender issues, this dissertation investigates the codification and representation of transgenderism in Spanish film as a site for discursive formation of the transgender identity, but also as a space of social struggle for the meaning of sex, gender and sexuality. ii The two first archetypes (the Criminal and the Patient) correspond to representations with a heavy reliance on the legal or medical situation of the character respectively, whereas the third one (the Empowered) lets us see how representation can transcend medical and legal definitions and give autonomy and a voice to the character that the previous two somehow negate. Furthermore, the three of them overlap in some of the movies, negating the possibility of fixed and monolithic categories, and highlighting the limits of these archetypes, which are used as a tool to understand the different discourses rather than classify and label each of the characters. This dissertation, then, explores the different representations or archetypes that are used to portray transgender people through the case studies found in contemporary Spanish cinema, with the goal of unpacking the continuities and ruptures of sex and gender politics in the last 40 years of political change in Spain. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not be possible without the help of Professor Angharad Valdivia. She has been a mentor, a friend, a colleague, a fan, and so much more. She has given me, many times, the best advice to finish this project: “sit down and write”. I am grateful for her words of encouragement as well as her downplaying the problems and hardships that I have faced during this dissertation in order to keep me focused. Also, those trips to Madrid. I also want to thank the members of my committee: Professor Gerard Coll-Planas for co- directing the research and becoming the specialist in Spain that I needed during the years of writing. He has been the most critical reader, enlightening me and pushing me to reach new levels of professionalism. He will remain, no doubt, one of the major influences in the way my academic career unfolds from now on, but also a friend and colleague I can count on. Professor Ricky Rodriguez has also been pivotal in this project, and his warmth and intellectual challenges have fostered and improved my research during all these years. He’s responsible for one of the best courses I have ever taken as a student and a role model for my teaching. It makes me very happy to count him among my friends, and I am very looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Finally, Professor Paula Treichler has brought the experience and knowledge that only a radical feminist who changed the way we talk about AIDS can bring. Our escapades after class, our conversations in her yard or in her car, have served me better than many of the books I read. I will forever treasure those moments. Of course, I also want to thank the professors at UIUC that have shown me how a great American university works. Their dedication and passion for teaching remains an inspiration for iv my teaching future. I want to highlight the amazing colleagues at GWS, specially Professors Cole, Ngo and Nadeau. And I do not want to forget the librarians at Gregg Hall and the Main Stacks for being the most helpful, kind and dedicated workers at UIUC. At a personal level, I want to thank my family for being supportive of this long trip abroad, for having taught me that effort and hard work result in amazing rewards, and in general for being the most fantastic family one could ever wish for. Robert has shown me the path to becoming a doctor, Isabel the need for feelings even in the most rational environments, Ferran the passion for social justice, and Guillem the creativity and sensitivity of true artists. I want to thank Carlos for accepting and loving me even in these messy last years of dissertating: it is not easy to understand the craziness and mood swings of the process and he has been the most patient and kind. And most importantly, my life partner Iñaki who, despite the distance and the loneliness, has always encouraged me to take my own path. Even when it was painful or difficult, he has always been there, always had my back, and always kept his heart open for me. I want to thank him for waiting, calling, understanding and advising. I hope I can be half as supportive of his dissertation. It has truly been a blessing to have him by my side. Finally, I want to thank all the badass transgender characters in movies that have fostered new understandings of our sex and gender, but also all the amazing transgender people in real life that have encouraged me in this process and taught me so much about life and myself. It has been a true pleasure contributing this dissertation to our common fight against oppression, discrimination and narrow-mindedness. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAME................................................................................................30 CHAPTER 3: REVIEW OF THE FIELD...............................................................................................74 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................105 CHAPTER 5: THE CRIMINAL ARCHETYPE.....................................................................................128 CHAPTER 6: THE PATIENT ARCHETYPE........................................................................................186 CHAPTER 7: THE EMPOWERED ARCHETYPE...............................................................................234 CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSIONS.........................................................................................................282 REFERENCES................................................................................................................................307 vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Introduction In 1977, Maria del Carmen G.D. was legally recognized as a woman by a Spanish court in Malaga after coming back from London, where she underwent gender confirmation surgery (Gradillas, 2003). It was the first case of its kind, and a precedent that established the beginning of a slow change towards legal recognition of transsexuality in the country, leading 30 years later to the Spanish Gender Identity Law in 2007, for example. Maria del Carmen’s recognition came during an important decade in Spain, a country transitioning from a fascist dictatorship that lasted almost forty years (1939-1975) into a new democracy. With the arrival of a new regime and politics, some previously outlawed and outcast sex and gender expressions and identities found a new place in Spanish society and, subsequently, in Spanish media as well. The case of transgender characters in Spanish film is one example of the emergence of these minorities onto the public sphere, and the central point of this dissertation. By looking at the representation and presence of certain identities on screen, we can assess their visibility and the ways in which such identities are portrayed, defining their politics of representation and the subjacent ideologies at play. In this regard, the history of Spain in the last forty years yields extremely fertile transgender case studies, especially in Spanish films, which become sites of struggle and negotiation of meaning, definition and understanding of gender, sex and sexuality. The cases in which transgender characters have been protagonists of Spanish movies –and thus explored