The Return of Genre in 1990s Spanish Cinema: Industry, Legislative Changes and Economics

Abstract

This article focuses on the key impact of genre in Spanish cinema in the early to mid-1990s. First, it addresses a series of legislative changes from the 1980s and 1990s and their influence on the national cinematic output. Second, it analyses box-office data in the early-to-mid 1990s while drawing attention to the emergence of new players—such as private multimedia enterprises—in the field of film production. Third, it examines the work of two different filmmakers—the duo Manuel Gómez Pereira/Joaquín Oristrell, and Álex de la Iglesia—studying both their cinematic works and their status in different historiographies of Spanish cinema. Finally, it discusses the above-mentioned filmmakers’ engagement with genre as a key development in the history of Spanish cinema, paving the way to a later generation of filmmakers who drew from the generic to significantly change the development of the national film industry.

RESUMEN

Este artículo analiza la extraordinaria relevancia de los géneros cinematográficos durante la primera parte de la década de los noventa en España. Primero, aborda una serie de cambios legislativos durante los años ochenta y noventa, y su influencia en la producción fílmica nacional. Segundo, analiza datos de taquilla de principios y mediados de los noventa, con especial atención a la emergencia de nuevos agentes —empresas multimedia— en el campo de la producción cinematográfica. Tercero, examina el trabajo de dos cineastas —el dúo Manuel Gómez Pereira/Joaquín Oristrell y Álex de la Iglesia— mediante un estudio detallado de sus trabajos cinematográficos. Simultáneamente, valora su estatus en las diferentes historiografías del cine español. Finalmente, analiza cómo los mencionados cineastas utilizan diferentes categorías genéricas como herramienta clave en la evolución del cine español, marcando el camino a una generación posterior que cambiará significativamente la industria fílmica nacional.

Keywords:

• Spanish cinema
• film genres
• Miró Decree
• Semprún Decree
• comedy
• 1990s

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• cine español
• géneros cinematográficos
• decreto Miró
• decreto Semprún
• comedia
• 1990s

Acknowledgements

This article was written in the context of the research project “Cine y televisión 1986–1995: modernidad y emergencia de la cultura global” (CSO2016-78354-P), financed by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación–Agencia Estatal de Investigación del Gobierno de España and FEDER.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Although dominant, this was not an exclusive criterion. For example, Pedro Almodóvar also received public subsidies for films such as Matador (1986).

2 Only 9% of households had VCRs in 1983. By 1998, this figure had grown to 68.6% (Sánchez Noriega 2017, 55).

3 Data from “Consulta de datos técnicos de películas,” Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales, Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte. Accessed January 24, 2020. https://icaa.mecd.es/Datos_tecnicos_Peliculas.aspx.

4 Data from “Consulta de datos técnicos de películas,” Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales, Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte. Accessed January 24, 2020. https://icaa.mecd.es/Datos_tecnicos_Peliculas.aspx.

5 Buse, Triana-Toribio, and Willis (2008) prefer the term “popular auteur,” emphasizing de la Iglesia’s extensive mix of multiple popular cultural registers rather than the commercial character of his endeavours.

6 Álex de la Iglesia has worked on most of his projects with the same creative team—namely writer Jorge Guerricaechevarría and production designers and art directors Biaffa and José Luis Arrizabalaga. In fact, he has co-written all his films with Guerricaechevarría except for Balada triste de trompeta (2010). However, with the exception of Mirindas asesinas, Guerricaechevarría has not participated in the different production processes like Joaquín Oristrell in Gómez Pereira’s works.

7 Data is missing from the Instituto de la Cinematografía y las Artes Audiovisuales website.

8 Sogetel was plunged into a crisis after the arrival of José María Aznar’s Partido Popular to power in 1996. The audiovisual sector embarked on the so-called digital wars between Prisa’s Canal Satélite Digital and the government backed Telefónica’s Vía Digital. The government’s lack of investment in TV rights subsequently reduced Sogetel’s investments in film production. For more information about this issue see Rocío García (1998), Torrell (1998), and Ansola González (1999).

9 In this respect, I would like to highlight the following books in diagnosing the importance of genre films in history of Spanish cinema: Triana-Toribio (2003), Lázaro-Reboll and Willis (2004), Beck and Rodríguez Ortega (2009), Labanyi and Pavlovic (2015), and Lázaro-Reboll (2014), among other titles.

10 Two books, Schwartz (2008) and Bentley (2008) epitomize this approach since they barely mention the works of these filmmakers. Other authors such as Puigdoménech mostly neglect the work of Gómez Pereira/Oristrell and Álex de la Iglesia. Key works such as Gubern et al. (2003) devote only a few paragraphs to study their works.

11 Perfectos desconocidos has been produced by Telecinco Cinema, a key factor in its remarkable box-office success due to the media blitz launched by this company.

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Notes on contributors

Vicente Rodríguez Ortega

Vicente Rodríguez Ortega is Senior Lecturer at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) and member of the TECMERIN research group. He is the co-editor of Contemporary Spanish Cinema and Genre (2008) and has published in journals such as Television & New Media, Necsus: European Journal of Media Studies, and New Media & Society. He has also written chapters in edited books such as A Companion to Spanish Cinema (2012), A Companion to Pedro Almodóvar (2013), and Tracing the Borders of Spanish Horror Cinema and Television (2017).