Erotohistoriography, Temporal Drag and the Interstitial Spaces of Childhood in Spanish Cinema

Abstract

This chapter studies the child figure as ‘the conduit for the exploration of the trauma and loss of the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath of dictatorship in Spain’ in well-known films including El espíritu de la colmena/The Spirit of the Beehive (dir. Víctor Erice, 1973), Cría cuervos/Raise Ravens (dir. Carlos Saura, 1976), Secretos del corazón/Secrets of the Heart (dir. Montxo Armendáriz, 1997) and Pa negre/Black Bread (dir. Agustí Villalonga, 2010). In an analysis informed by queer theory, and in particular by Lee Edelman’s concept of reproductive futurism and Elizabeth Freeman’s erotohistoriography, the chapter focuses on sequences of intense intimacy (between mother and child, for example), transgressive kids’ games, and some traumatic events witnessed by children to explore the potential of the child figure as the key to queer the films’ version of history.