Screening Chueca : marking the queer territory in Spanish cinema of the 2000s.

Abstract

Much has been written about Madrid’s iconic status in Spanish cinema as the epicentre of post-Franco liberation.1 Once symbolic of the totalitarian centrality promoted by the dictatorship, it soon became the site of modernity, urban freedom and jouissance, particularly during the movida (a time of great cultural creativity and social liberation following Franco’s death in the late 1970s and early 1980s) and due in no small part to the way in which it was depicted as some sort of playground in the early Almodóvar films. Whilst still retaining some of its old centralist connotations, in the democratic era Madrid has become an icon of the quintessential celebration of difference, a welcoming place where Spaniards from all over the country, tourists and immigrants can live together, and, with some exceptions, it is still often depicted as such in contemporary film, literature and popular culture.2 The Chueca Square area in central Madrid has also experienced a radical evolution and it could be regarded, to some extent, as both a microcosm of the changes experienced in the city and the nation more widely and also a symbol of its openness. Once a semi-derelict and highly undesirable, even dangerous, part of town associated with crime, in the last three decades or so Chueca has become one of the city’s trendiest and priciest neighbourhoods. The barrio underwent a dramatic facelift as Spanish GLBTQ communities adopted it as its national epicentre.3...