Espacios de Resistencia en el Cine Narrativo de Fernando León de Aranoa

Abstract

My thesis offers a reassessment of the films of the Spanish director Fernando León de Aranoa, one of the most successful directors in the last two decades in Spain, and an artist whose films have taken on important social issues. The hypothesis of my dissertation is that Fernando León de Aranoa’s films constitute a locus of resistance that confronts the sway of capital on forming urban space. Moreover, I argue that this resistance to spatial practices is embedded in the structure of his filmic discourse as much as it is in the themes and content of his narratives. An approach of this kind, centering on the relationship between León de Aranoa’s cartographic imaginary, film form, and meaning, allows one to understand how his films make meaning in such a way as make the viewer an active participant in deconstructing and reframing a critical discourse about space and society in Spain. My study is rooted in both film theory—most especially David Bordwell’s work on the structure of film—and the work of critical geographers such as David Harvey, who have persuasively analyzed the effects of capital on social, economic, and spatial relationships under capital, and how that influence helps construct cartographic imaginaries that can be powerful ways of resisting capital uneven appropriation of space.