The Construction of Early Modernity in Spanish Film
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THE CONSTRUCTION OF EARLY MODERNITY IN SPANISH FILM A Dissertation by MIGUEL ANGEL ZARATE CASANOVA Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2011 Major Subject: Hispanic Studies The Construction of Early Modernity in Spanish Film Copyright 2011 Miguel Angel Zarate Casanova THE CONSTRUCTION OF EARLY MODERNITY IN SPANISH FILM A Dissertation by MIGUEL ANGEL ZARATE CASANOVA Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Richard K. Curry Committee Members, Valeria Camporesi Eduardo Espina Carol LaFayette Alain Lawo-Sukam Head of Department, Alberto Moreiras August 2011 Major Subject: Hispanic Studies iii ABSTRACT The Construction of Early Modernity in Spanish Film. (August 2011) Miguel Angel Zarate Casanova, B.A. (Licenciatura), Complutense University at Madrid; M.A. (Diploma de Estudios Avanzados), Autonoma University at Madrid Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Richard K. Curry The presence of early modern Spanish history in Spanish film has received only limited scholarly attention. The entire group of Spanish films dealing with the Spanish early modern era has never been placed under study by any overarching research. This dissertation reframes the evolution of the cinematographic representation of the Spanish past as it studies the mechanisms employed by Spanish films in representing an essential part of Spanish past: early modernity. Studied are 19 period films that group themselves around some of most representative subjects in early modernity: the Monarchy and Nobility, and the Spanish Inquisition. Studied also is the most expensive Spanish period film, Alatriste (2006). Through the analysis of artistic, industrial, historiographical, and political elements, and the deconstruction of the historical message of each film, as well as the analysis of their reception, it is clear that Spanish period films set in early modernity tell us as much about the time of their making and the shaping of the historical consciousness of Spain as they do about the era that they represent on screen. iv DEDICATION To my parents, Miguel and Isabel, who have supported me in my endeavors all of my life. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to acknowledge the support of my adviser Dr. Richard K. Curry, who has guided me through every step of my academic career in the United States. I also would like to thank the contributions to my research from my committee members at Texas A&M University and Autonoma University in Madrid. I also wish to acknowledge the sponsorship of my research by The Fulbright Commission and The Glasscock Center for Humanities at Texas A&M. Last, but not least, I want to express my gratitude to all of my friends who were there for me, and kept me going. vi NOMENCLATURE AGA Archivo General de la Administración Alcalá de Henares BOC Board of Censors vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER Page I INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 1 History-Film, a reciprocal relationship .......................................... 4 Entertainment and continuity in period film .................................. 6 Scholarly background and significance .......................................... 8 Methodology .................................................................................. 13 Sources ........................................................................................... 16 Analytical approach ........................................................................ 18 Reception ........................................................................................ 22 Distribution of contents .................................................................. 26 II THE ROYAL BIOPIC ......................................................................... 34 The cinematographic extension of a perpetually romanticized monarch in Locura de Amor and Juana la Loca ........................... 35 Isabella I of Castile in Alba de América and La Reina Isabel en persona ........................................................................................... 62 Jeromín: the historical mending of a Francoist archetype of imperial values ............................................................................... 85 Conclusions on the royal biopic ..................................................... 99 III POLITICS AND THE COURT ........................................................... 107 The War of Succession in La Princesa de los Ursinos .................. 109 La Leona de Castilla: inconvenient oddity or ideological complacence? ................................................................................. 128 The assassination of Juan of Escobedo in La Princesa de Éboli and La Conjura de El Escorial ....................................................... 151 Esquilache: cultural heroes as the elitist motor of history ............. 183 El Rey Pasmado: the Spanish court as the mirroring image of the decadence of the Hispanic Empire ................................................. 201 Conclusions .................................................................................... 221 viii CHAPTER Page IV THE SPANISH INQUISITION ON SPANISH FILM ........................ 235 The Spanish Inquisition .................................................................. 235 La Dama del Armiño, the Inquisition on positive light .................. 248 El Segundo Poder: the familiares of the Spanish Inquisition ........ 261 Akelarre: the Inquisition as a tool of oppression for local power…………………………………………………………...… 274 The early years of the Spanish Inquisition in Torquemada ........... 289 Goya’s Ghosts, the Inquisition at the twilight of Modernity ......... 302 Conclusions: a dominating dark filmic portrayal of the Spanish Inquisition… yet, is there any other possible way? .......... 317 V ALATRISTE: EXPECTATION, FRUSTRATION, AND INNOVATION IN SPANISH PERIOD FILM .................................... 327 Gestation of a film largely desired - Stage of interpretation of the Spanish past .......................................................................... 328 Ideologies, patriotism, and the Spanish nation in Alatriste ............ 335 Strategies of representation ............................................................ 342 Reception on the film…………………………………….. ……… 346 Conclusion ...................................................................................... 351 VI SUMMING UP AND CONCLUSIONS .............................................. 355 Historiographical trends in the interpretation of themes ................ 355 Historiographical interpretations in the cinematographic representation of history ................................................................. 357 Purposes and uses of early modern history in Spanish film ……………………………………………………. 359 Reception as more than a lack of general acceptance…………… 361 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………….…………………………………. 366 APPENDIX……… ................................................................................................... 407 VITA…………………………………………….…………………………………. 445 ix LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE Page 1 La presentación de Don Juan de Austria a Carlos V (Eduardo Rosales, 1889) ........................................................................................................... 89 2 Ejecución de los Comuneros (Antonio Gisbert, 1858)............................... 131 3 Oath scene from La Leona de Castilla ....................................................... 143 4 Dissolve transition from La Leona de Castilla .......................................... 144 5 Comparison of Philip IV by D. Velázquez (1621) and a captured frame of King Philip IV from El Rey Pasmado (1991) ........................................ 210 6 Comparison of El Conde Duque de Olivares by Diego Velázquez (1624) and an a captured frame of the Count Duke Olivares from El Rey Pasmado (1991). ............................................................................. 216 7 Comparison of a captured frame from Goya’s Ghosts and F. Goya’s Auto de Fe (1812) ....................................................................................... 312 8 Comparison of a captured frame from Alatriste (2006) and Caravaggio’s The Calling of St Matthew (1600). ....................................... 344 x LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page 1 Modifications on the script of La Princesa de los Ursinos ........................ 118 2 Modifications on the script of La Princesa de Éboli ................................. 166 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The purpose of this research is to clarify the inner mechanisms employed by period Spanish films in representing the past, and to show how any historical film is tributary to its time of making.1 What propels my interest in choosing this topic is my belief that film and early modern history are instrumental assets in the construction of the past of Spain. The title of this dissertation, The Construction of Early Modernity in Spanish Film, indexes this goal, to understand the intricacies of the filmic representation of the past by analyzing a large number of Spanish feature films that portray the second most recurrent period of Spanish history brought to screen. Early modern history, or early modern era, describes the historical timeframe at the end of the 15th century through the 18th century, ranging from different