The value of the past. Canons and criticisms in recent historiography on Spanish cinema during the Franco Era

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the inclusion in the Spanish film canon during the last two decades of certain movies produced under the Franco regime. The article examines the list of relevant films by referencing them against the diverse perspectives from which cinema is approached, be it critique, analysis or history, as well as to the paradigms that critics, analysts and historians adhere to and the repertoire they work in. Here the canon is addressed as an issue that is mainly historiographical. Thus, after analysing the cinematographic literature on the Franco Era, the article shows how the boundaries of the repertoire, the search for the specificity and identity of Spanish cinema, the limiting aspects imposed by the (political) context, the overcoming of the dichotomy between pro-Franco cinema/dissident cinema, the attention to the mise-en-scène and to the movies’ links with popular culture, have all contributed to allow these films that had previously gone unnoticed to be regarded as relevant.