Absent Mothers in Spansh Film: Gender Expectations and the Franco Regime, 1939–75
Jessica Davidson, James Madison University
This paper looks at the theme of motherhood in Spanish films that deal with the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975). Recent Spanish film, and some examples from the late regime, grapple with the issue of absent mothers, either psychologically or physically, and their children. Films will include The Spirit of the Beehive, The Devil’s Backbone, Black Bread, and Pan’s Labyrinth. This analysis will consider the prevalence of this portrayal of women in Spanish film and draw connections to the popular memory of gender during the Franco regime and civil war that preceded it. National chaos indeed led to broken families and orphaned or neglected children. The children in these stories suffer due to the perceived failure of the mother but the shortcomings of the father do not affect their wellbeing. This paper will address the significance of this double standard as emblematic of the regime’s rigid and traditional gender expectations and insistence on women in the household as caretaker and ultimately as a mother.