UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Traumatized subjects : horror film and the legacy of mass extermination in post-dictatorship Spain Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3hp397p3 Author Boehm, Scott Walter Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Traumatized Subjects: Horror Film and the Legacy of Mass Extermination in Post-Dictatorship Spain A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Literature by Scott Walter Boehm Committee in charge: Professor Susan Kirkpatrick, Co-Chair Professor Luis Martín-Cabrera, Co-Chair Professor John Blanco Professor Jaime Concha Professor Cristina Moreiras-Menor Professor Pamela Radcliff 2012 Copyright Scott Walter Boehm, 2012 All rights reserved. The dissertation of Scott Walter Boehm is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Co-Chair __________________________________________________________ Co-Chair University of California, San Diego 2012 iii DEDICATION In recognition of my mother and her constant support through all the stages of my life. And in solidarity with those who have been searching for the remains of their disappeared family members through all the stages of theirs. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page…………………………………………………………………….…. iii Dedication……………………………………………………………….………….... iv Table of Contents……………………………………………………….………….…. v Acknowledgements…………………………………………………….………….…. vi Curriculum Vitae…………………………………………………………………….. xi Abstract………………………………………………………………….………….. xiv Introduction: The Return of the Living Dead and Spanish Horror Film…...…….…... 1 Return of the Living Dead………………………………………………….… 1 Spanish Horror Film……………………………………………….……….... 35 Chapter 1. El orfanato: The Politics of Disavowal and the Fundamental Fantasy of the Transition..……………………………………………..… 62 Allegorical Reading…………………………………………………………. 62 Conflicting Cultural Processes……………………………………………..... 65 The Politics of Disavowal………………………………………………….... 70 The Fundamental Fantasy of the Transition……………………………….…74 El orfanato……………………………………………………………….….. 78 The Fantastic…………………………………………………………….…... 85 Chapter 2. Aparecidos: The Politics of Displacement and the Garzón Symptom...... 99 The Politics of Displacement…………………………………………….….. 99 The Garzón Symptom………………………………………………….…... 103 Aparecidos…………………………………………………………….….... 106 Chapter 3. No-Do: The Politics of Melancholy and the Francoist Thing…….…… 161 The Politics of Melancholy…………………………………………….….. 161 No-Do v. NO-DO………………………………………………………….. 172 The Melancholy of Ana Torrent…………………………………………... 192 The Francoist Thing…………………………………………………….…. 202 v Chapter 4. Los ojos de Julia: The Politics of Seeing in the Shadows of Impunity... 212 The Politics of Seeing………………………………………………….…... 212 The State of Impunity………………………………………....………...…. 214 Los ojos de Julia………………………………………………………….... 225 Disability and Narrative Prosthesis……………………………………....… 231 Between Giallo and the Slasher Film……………………………………..... 237 The Lacanian Gaze and Death Drive……………………………………..... 251 Conclusion. El piel que habito: The Politics of Almodóvar and the Horrors of the Body Politic………………………………………………….... 257 The Politics of Almodóvar………………………………………………..... 259 Horrors of the Body Politic……………………………………………….... 267 Bibliography………………………………………………………….………….…. 284 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completing this project has been no easy task, and it brings me great joy to express my sincere gratitude to those who have helped me do so. First of all, I’d like to thank Luis Martín-Cabrera for his support and guidance as my academic mentor and dissertation director. We have collaborated together in different capacities in both San Diego and in Spain and I have learned much about my work and myself through the various experiences we have shared, for which I am very grateful. I would also like to note that out of all the coursework I completed at UCSD, Luis’ classes were consistently the best, although his commitment to putting theory into practice outside of the classroom is arguably his greatest gift. Luis graciously introduced me to his advisor at the University of Michigan, Cristina Moreiras-Menor, in 2006 while the three of us were in Spain, and it is both an unusual privilege and honor to count her as a member of my committee and a reader of my work. No other scholar has influenced my way of thinking about the Transition more than her. I can only hope that our paths continue to cross well into the future. Susan Kirkpatrick deserves special thanks for coming out of retirement in order to serve as Co-Chair of my committee when it was necessary. Jody Blanco always made me feel better about things when the going got tough, and Jaime Concha’s wise advice to take as long as I could to finish the dissertation helped me keep peace of mind when it seemed to be taking too long. I thank Pamela Radcliff for generously agreeing to work with me as I was just getting started in this field, and for contributing greatly to my historical understanding of modern Spain. vii During my early years at UCSD I worked quite closely with Lisa Lowe and Shelley Streeby, both of whom were incredibly supportive mentors and promoters of my work in American Studies. Traces of their influence can be found everywhere in this dissertation, and if my contributions to Spanish Cultural Studies are unique in any way at all, it is almost certainly due to their tutelage and the intellectual “cross- training” I received in the UCSD Literature Department. Being a graduate student in the humanities at UCSD is not easy, and it would have been even more difficult without the friendship and camaraderie of those with whom I’ve shared this arduous path. Adam Lewis and I have been classmates, colleagues, hiking partners, traveling companions and housemates since we met at open house in 2004, and it is impossible to think about graduate school or the future without having his friendship in mind. Benjamin Balthaser and I lived, studied and fought together as like-minded compañeros at an institution that didn’t always agree with our viewpoints. I’d also like to thank Michelle Stuckey, Tania Jabour, DJ Campbell, Ryan Heryford and John Washington for their friendship while at UCSD. While it may seem strange to thank a city, Madrid has supported me in various ways since first moving there in 2001, particularly mi barrio, Lavapiés. I have lived in Madrid off and on for over a decade, and this project would have been inconceivable if I had not first found my lugar en el mundo. Of course, a place is nothing without people, and I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and this work in Madrid, especially los de Aluche. While they are far too many to mention by name here, Daniel Rojo deserves special recognition for providing me with a viii welcoming home for several years, which has served as a base and the site of so many unforgettable moments that have shaped my perspective on Spanish culture and life in general – muchísimas gracias hermano! Without a doubt, the most rewarding experience of graduate school has been my involvement with the Spanish Civil War Memory Project, which I worked on for three years. I thank Luis for organizing the project and for letting me help get it off the ground, as well as the other UCSD graduate students who participated on it. I would also like to thank Daniel and Jorge Rojo, Guillermo Izquierdo and especially Miriam Duarte for volunteering to assist me with so many interviews out of a genuine desire to help our efforts. To all the people we had the privilege to interview: your stories are in this dissertation more than you will ever know and your memory forms part of who I am today. Similarly, as a volunteer with the Association for the Recuperation of Historical Memory, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in several mass grave exhumations and to come to know some of the most selfless and dedicated people working in Spain. In particular, I thank Emilio Silva for his example, generosity and friendship, and Toru Orakawa for the same. Research support from the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley, as well as the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies, the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, and the Mandeville Special Collections at UCSD were essential to providing me with the financial resources to carry out this project. Personal support and conversations about it over the years with Alistair Martin, Pablo Llorens, Alberto Vazquez, Pedro Loeb, Irene Lopez, Günter Schwaiger, Carlos ix Agüero, Helena Resano, Marina Redondo, Margarita Llamanzares, Alan Barreca, Tim Engles, Jaime LaMarche, Katie Montgomery and Jessica Plautz were fundamental. I’d like to extend gratitude to my yoga teachers Bhava Ram and Laura Plumb for reminding me of who I am and for being so kind to give me a laptop I couldn’t afford when mine started dying in the midst of dissertation writing. Jackie Giordano deserves credit for hiring and putting up with me when others wouldn’t, making it possible to get through grad school as a teaching assistant. And while it