Mar de plástico: Masculinity, Whiteness, and Eastern European Migrants in Spanish Prime Time Television

Kathleen Connolly

doi:10.5070/t482041118

Abstract

Author(s): Connolly, Kathleen | Abstract: The following essay analyzes representations of whiteness and its imbrication with both masculinity and the construction of Eastern European migrants in the Spanish TV drama Mar de plastico (2015). The violent, white masculinity of the protagonist, Hector Aguirre, frames him as a protector of the weak and victimized, and the type of man needed to resolve the many problems plaguing Spanish society. By contrast, the whiteness of Eastern European migrants is portrayed as insidious and threatening to the safety and social structure of the community. Both of these engagements with whiteness stem from feelings of uncertainty and anger in broader Spanish society with entrenched economic and class hierarchies, as well a reaction to changing demographics and new influxes of immigrants. The innovative aspects of the show: a desire to create a well-produced, cinematic experience as well as engage with socially-relevant topics, unfortunately are only skin deep, because the narrative falls back on stereotyped portrayals of immigrants and a white, warrior-hero masculinity.

Highlights

Produced by Boomerang TV/Atresmedia, Mar de plástico is set in the liminal, unstable space of the “Plastic Sea:” the dry, windswept plateaus of Almería that, in the last forty years, have gone from poverty-stricken to an economic boom due to the greenhouse agriculture
American Prestige TV and Spanish Prime Time Drama: Sharing the White Gaze Spanish television has been experiencing a renaissance in response to the convergence era of television, and the exports of the current “Golden Age” of American TV
For all its faults—heavy-handed melodrama, uneven or unconvincing plot lines—Mar de plástico has truly taken the pulse of Spanish society, which is beating in anger and frustration

Summary

UC Merced

TRANSMODERNITY: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World Title Mar de plástico: Masculinity, Whiteness, and Eastern European Migrants in Spanish Prime Time Television Journal TRANSMODERNITY: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 8(2)

Conclusion

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Works Cited