“Heroes in Transition: Class and Gender in the Cine Quinqui“

Cine Quinqui is one of the key phenomenon of Spanish transition cinema. Francoist popular cinema had complacently focused on tame villagers and even tamer members of the urban middle classes. Around 1980, a number of films started to make visible the subculture of young urban proletarians and small time delinquents. With deep roots in neorealism and using some shock tactics of popular journalism, these films engaged with social conflict and proposed variations on gender roles. The lecture will be illustrated with clips from such films as Navajeros (1980), Perros Callejeros (1977), Colegas (1982) or Perras Callejeras (1985).