Series | Library of Rassegna iberistica
Edited book | Classical Spanish Theater in the Cinema
Chapter | «Don Juan, ¿español?». Sobre la españolidad en Don Juan de José Luis Sáenz de Heredia
«Don Juan, ¿español?». Sobre la españolidad en Don Juan de José Luis Sáenz de Heredia
Abstract
Although Franco-era film adaptations of the Spanish comedia are often dismissed as propaganda due to the regime’s broader ideological use of the Golden Age to promote ‘traditional’ Spanish values, this essay suggests that these films merit closer scrutiny. Saenz de Heredia’s 1950 film Don Juan is both a response to Hollywood’s Adventures of Don Juan (Vincent Sherman, 1948) and a narrative film that, while reclaiming the Don Juan legend as Spanish cultural patrimony, reveals inherent contradictions and flaws in Franco’s idea of Spain and Spanishness. Superficially, it is ideologically orthodox, but closer examination reveals how the film is symptomatic of defects in Franco’s projected vision of Spain.
Submitted: March 5, 2019 | Accepted: April 22, 2019 | Published July 12, 2019 | Language: es
Keywords Dictatorship • Spanish cinema • National identity • Francisco Franco • Spanishness • Spanish Comedia • Propaganda • Spanish Golden Age theater • Film adaptation • Don Juan
Copyright © 2019 Cayce Elder. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-330-4/008
