'El paseo de los tristes': Homosexuality as tragedy in the Spanish films of the 1960s

Abstract

Despite the strict regulations that prohibited the representation of 'all forms of sexual perversion [. . .] including homosexuality' (Article 3, Norms of Censorship 1963), a number of Spanish films of the 1960s managed to include gay characters, thus developing pioneering portrayals of homosexual men, unusual even in other industries of the time. This article studies the little-known representation of the homosexual as a sad man in Spanish film narratives. After revealing the presence of these characters in a number of popular films, it focuses on Luis Delgado's Diferente (1962). It argues that these representations, which have been exceptional in Spanish queer culture, deserve to be included within a longer western narrative tradition of homosexuality as a blameworthy tragedy. In order to do so, I refer to Richard Dyer's work on the construction of the stereotype of the homosexual as a sad man.