On November 23, 1995, more than twenty years after the dictator’s death, Hazard and social rehabilitation law. This norm, approved in 1970, was reaffirmed in the persecution of homosexuals with the amendment introduced on July 15, 1954. Vagrants and Fraudsters Actexpressly stipulating the detention and imprisonment of ‘homosexuals’ in private institutions. Yes, “gay” as they read it.
Despite the embarrassment of the typos, this error did not prevent people with non-normative sexualities from being persecuted by the Franco authorities for so many years that they had to hide their sexual identity from friends, family and, of course, public officials. bosses or colleagues.
At this point, they had to continue their lives, the gay They sought professional sectors where their sexual situation did not raise much suspicion. In the first third of the 20th century, entertainment was one of the most hospitable, if not the only one, adding new industries such as recording and film to the theater tradition that had made room for composers. , songwriters, decorators, actors, screenwriters, poster artists, painters or costume designers. Through these disciplines, these creators sought to express their cultural tastes and sexual choices to the extent permitted by law, censorship, and social acceptance.
“In 1949 Antonio Mas Guindal He wrote the script for his first movie, including a scene where a character who is a con man dies. If putting a cheater at the time was already too striking, as he dies, the quoted character Oscar Wilde. In the case of last couplet In one of the scripts from 1956, I found: an entire sequence starring a transvestite. It was about a character coming out with their Manila shawls off and an audience of excited men playing him, finally realizing he was a man. The scene was cut from the final script, but at least the writers tried to include it,” he explains. Santiago Lomas Martinezwriter Queer creators in Spanish cinema of the Franco regime: gay subculture and genderPublished by Laertes publishing house this Wednesday Dore Cinema with a private session.
I am using the concept queer retrospective because how is the complexity of this sexual or gender antithesis projected to examine past oppositional identities? During the Franco regime, sexuality was a dual issue, heterosexual or homosexual, but now, that’s all we can think of. queer Can you be called gay? Where does homosexuality begin and end? Is the person who desires men but does not have sex with them homosexual, and who has them and identifies as heterosexual? As strange as it may seem a priori, the idea of what queer it serves better to reflect a range of possibilities within culture, such as aesthetic aspects, identifications, a preference for some narratives, not others… Perhaps a huge step forward in applying this adjective. For this reason, I think it makes more sense to talk about it than to fall for black and white, A or B. queer deviating from the norm, having different or different views“.
Although it applies to a concept as modern and broad as queerThe fact is, most of the professionals mentioned in Santiago Lomas Martínez’s article were gay men. However, she points out that in Franco’s Spain, and more specifically in the world of cinema, there must also be trans or lesbian people, albeit for purely statistical reasons.
“When we talk about sexuality, culture, and identities, we think of ourselves through the cultural discourses we have. Now we’re talking about trans people, but in the 50s and 60s, because trans people didn’t think of themselves that way. They didn’t have access to those. Maybe they felt different, but other alternatives that might exist, such as the third gender or something like that. they thought using ideas. Since the 70s, changes have emerged in this terminology. A transvestite comes into use, then a transgender, and then a transgender. In the case of lesbian women, it was very difficult for women under Franco to reach certain positions of creative responsibility. So the book does not deny the possibility of trans or lesbians in Francoist cinema, but it makes sense that the more men have access to the means of production, the more they have. In fact, even gay men have had flimsy speeches like investors claiming that the gay man isn’t all male, but partly female.”
mourning divas
One of the creators’ favorite genres queer During the Franco regime, they were melodramas and musicals starring tormented female characters, unlike what happened in analyzes of the work of authors such as the following. tennessee williamsIt wasn’t about homosexuals in disguise.
“The use of female characters by these creators allows them to place men in the position of objects of desire, and also to better address issues such as the difficulty of fulfilling that desire than, for example, using male characters in a combative context. Juan de Orduna shooting a certain kind of melodrama or Raphael de Leon He writes specific words for the couplets, La Parrala is not a gay man, but rather a woman who helps the author talk to him about experiences more recent than a traditional male hero would have. In fact, these continuities can be seen in writers like today. aldovar or Javiler. In telling female stories, these creators do not present homosexuals in disguise, but choose female characters that allow for expression possibilities that transcend certain masculine codes,” explains Lomas Martínez.
During the Franco regime, the creators tried to run their business smoothly. queer They had to be cautious when it came to making their identity visible. Although his close circle and even his colleagues in the entertainment world knew about his sexuality, it was imperative that he not spill over into the public arena. Even when you had the intuition or it was almost an open secret, you had to appear within the norm.
“When it comes to these creators, the combination of visibility and usefulness was crucial. For example, in the late 40s Juan de Orduña was one of the creators who best connected with the public, office data, poster persistence days, and movies like crazy love anyone Augustine of Aragon they were very successful. This made Orduña such a useful figure for the industry that he was allowed to operate without much complications. So much so that when it comes to movies dawn of americaIt was imposed from Cifesa, the official project of the regime, that Orduña should direct, as he was the most popular director. There is also no frontal political criticism in Orduña, although he may deviate on gender and sexual issues, and he has paid close attention to the endings. It was the endings that worried the censors most, because it was the ending that fixed the movie’s ideology. When people left the room, they had to leave knowing who was good, who was bad, who was punished. As such, the endings of these narratives are almost always conservative and never reward violations.”
From “weird” melodrama to “camp” sicalipsis
Queer creators in Spanish cinema of the Franco regime It will be announced this Wednesday at 20:00. Cine Doré from the Spanish Film Librarywith a private session balcony of the moonfilm Louis Saslavsky It was filmed in 1962. Starring Lola Flores, Carmen Sevilla and Paquita Rico, this movie is a turning point in this expressionist tradition, according to Santiago Lomas Martínez. queer.
“From the year 62, balcony of the moon and other movies that came out later, camp, which already existed since the time of Cuplé, before the Franco regime. In this sense, balcony of the moon It’s very interesting because it acts as a hinge between melodrama or frustrated divas suffering and that world. camp Characterized by frivolity, excess, irony, pen and double meanings of sexual desire and will be more evident in such films. Flora HouseLola Flores sings directly i like men. Those films are no longer in Juan de Orduña’s field in the ’40s, the beginning of that culture queer It is clear from the past that we will see and this, on the other hand, is what later writers like, Terenci Moix in literature or Pedro Almadovar in the cinema”.