Comedies with corpses but without weeping or mourning

Abstract

The article questions the problematic figuration of the corpse in the history of Spanish cinema and particularly in the genre of comedy. Starting with a verification of the centrality of death and its representations in Spanish culture, the author inquires into the ways in which corpses are present in our cinema and how the approach to this motif explains a particular attitude in terms of history and encodes a critical eye or an escapist attitude on the part of filmmakers and films. After tracing a genealogy of its representations, taking the bodies of the fallen in the Spanish Civil War as the first important corpses, the text creates a symptomatic history of the different forms of corpse representation in Spanish post-war cinema, focusing on the way in which the figure is shifted towards the field of comedy and its evolution, going from an evasive, depoliticized approach towards the territory of darkness and critical penetration. The author also points to the relevance of corpse representation in the cinema of the Transition, and its disappearance when democracy was consolidated. Finally, the representation of the corpse is established as a significant tool for confirming the critical load of Spanish cinema in relation to its history and its present