2 Voicing gender
-
Ian Biddle
Abstract
This chapter examines some of the ways in which the use of popular and traditional songs by transgendered performers in a selection of iconic post-Franco Spanish films impacts on cinematic, narrative and identificatory structures in those films. It asks how the work of song and the reworking of gendered stereotypes are played out in relation to each other. The chapter sets out both to elaborate some of the specific mechanisms of what might be termed 'song work' in these films and to re-examine the oft-made assertion that, in Spanish culture after Franco, transgender performative camp comes to stand for the Spanish Transition to democracy itself. It provides an analysis of three films in various ways with the relationships between transgression and the boundary. The films are Ocaña: Retrat intermittent, La mala educación, and 20 centímetros.
Abstract
This chapter examines some of the ways in which the use of popular and traditional songs by transgendered performers in a selection of iconic post-Franco Spanish films impacts on cinematic, narrative and identificatory structures in those films. It asks how the work of song and the reworking of gendered stereotypes are played out in relation to each other. The chapter sets out both to elaborate some of the specific mechanisms of what might be termed 'song work' in these films and to re-examine the oft-made assertion that, in Spanish culture after Franco, transgender performative camp comes to stand for the Spanish Transition to democracy itself. It provides an analysis of three films in various ways with the relationships between transgression and the boundary. The films are Ocaña: Retrat intermittent, La mala educación, and 20 centímetros.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- Contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xvi
- Introduction 1
- 1 Singing of dubious desire 17
- 2 Voicing gender 30
- 3 Bien pagá 51
- 4 El otro lado de la cama 66
- 5 On the function of punk aesthetics in Salto al vacío and Historias del Kronen 83
- 6 Mobile soundscapes in the quinqui film 98
- 7 Song-shaped cinema 114
- 8 Travelling song 134
- 9 Sound moves 151
- 10 The Afro-Cuban soundscape of Mexico City 167
- 11 Blues traveller 189
- 12 Dancing in the dark 206
- 13 Re-making Frida Kahlo through song in Frida 220
- 14 ‘Silence! Fado is about to be sung’ 235
- 15 Sounds from Brazil 249
- 16 Soundtrack to roguery 264
- 17 The Brazilian chanchada’s musical moments and the performance of identity 283
- 18 Orpheus in Babylon 298
- Index 315
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- Contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xvi
- Introduction 1
- 1 Singing of dubious desire 17
- 2 Voicing gender 30
- 3 Bien pagá 51
- 4 El otro lado de la cama 66
- 5 On the function of punk aesthetics in Salto al vacío and Historias del Kronen 83
- 6 Mobile soundscapes in the quinqui film 98
- 7 Song-shaped cinema 114
- 8 Travelling song 134
- 9 Sound moves 151
- 10 The Afro-Cuban soundscape of Mexico City 167
- 11 Blues traveller 189
- 12 Dancing in the dark 206
- 13 Re-making Frida Kahlo through song in Frida 220
- 14 ‘Silence! Fado is about to be sung’ 235
- 15 Sounds from Brazil 249
- 16 Soundtrack to roguery 264
- 17 The Brazilian chanchada’s musical moments and the performance of identity 283
- 18 Orpheus in Babylon 298
- Index 315
