Political attention towards GLBTQ issues in Spain has lessen in recent years because of a belief that the achievement of same-sex marriage in 2005 marked the end of inequality. Socially and in academic circles, however, much GLBTQ-related work continues to be done, not only at a social or political level, but also on a cultural level. Many of these studies center on GLBTQ representations in Spanish film and television, and academics generally agree that said representations have become more mainstream and varied. However, in the ten years since the legalization of same-sex marriage, Spanish cinema has seen a steep decline in the representation of GLBTQ characters. This paper will look at the current state of the Spanish cinema market, paying particular attention to newer modes of media distribution and how audiences consume and understand gay representations within these new models. It will concentrate on how younger filmmakers are looking at diverse media platforms like YouTube or Instagram to further the representation of gay characters that have otherwise been diminished in contemporary Spanish film. This paper will discuss how these choices correlate to the audience’s perception of the GLBTQ representation in Spanish films in terms of accuracy, positivity, and diversity.
About the presenterAdrián Gras-Velázquez
Visiting Assistant Professor in Spanish at Swarthmore College (US). He completed his PhD in Hispanic Film Studies at Durham University (UK) in 2013. Prior to that he received his BA (Hons) in Media Studies at the University of the West of Scotland (formerly known as Paisley University; UK), and completed his MA in Film and Television Scriptwriting at the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona (Spain).