Foundational Myths, Repressed Maternal Metaphors, and Desengaño: Iconography in Vacas (1992)

Abstract

This essay examines the representation of foundational myths and repressed maternal metaphors in Vacas (1992) with reference to Kristeva, Irigaray, Cixous, and feminist theologians Rosemary Radford Ruether, Amy Hollywood, and Pamela Sue Anderson. It argues that Médem's idiosyncratic fusion of Transition mises-en-scène has become an iconic 1990s desengaño text: one that combines the movida focus on masquerade with the nostalgic gaze of the 'cine de reconocimiento' (Monterde 1993: 153) in a way that anticipates more widespread preoccupations and developments of the 1990s in Spain. Vacas was released in the midst of a period of post-Transition desengaño when the Spanish film industry was in crisis, and yet, this analysis argues, it marks a decisive point of forward momentum by adding depth to the movida's sometimes frenzied masquerade and to the 'simple decorado' of historical film (Seguín 1995: 81), and by mediating the effects of exposure to the feminist movement on a traditionally masculine filmic gaze.