A popular Spanish auteur: Alex de la Iglesia as a polemical tool

Buse, P; Triana-Toribio, N; Willis, A

Abstract

This article looks at how Álex de la Iglesia can be studied using reviewed auteurist strategies. Such a study has to take into account how he constructs his persona as director in a process which deviates greatly from the images and roles allocated to directors by traditional auteurism. This persona has, in its turn, been the perfect complement to output that has often been seen as a non-legitimate part of Spanish cinema for its reliance on non-realist, popular genres and blatant ‘homages’ to Hollywood. From the constructions of his persona, we propose to look at the adjustments that both his new auteur style and his output impose on the definition of an identity in which official/unofficial discourses on Spanish cinema are continuously engaged. We also suggest that this process must involve a revision of the scholarship on Spanish auteurs that is in currency.

Citation

Buse, P., Triana-Toribio, N., & Willis, A. (2004). A popular Spanish auteur: Alex de la Iglesia as a polemical tool. New Cinemas, 2(3), 139-148. https://doi.org/10.1386/ncin.2.3.139/1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2004
• Deposit Date: Mar 2, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film
• Print ISSN: 1474-2756
• Publisher: Intellect
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 139-148
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ncin.2.3.139/1
• Keywords: contemporary, auteurism, Spanish cinema, Álex de la Iglesia
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/ncin.2.3.139/1