This project investigates the modes of representation of new subjectivities in female characters and actresses in Spanish cinema and television series from the end of the dictatorship to the post-Transition. Our starting point are the feminist debates on women’s representation during the Transition that appeared in magazines such as Vindication (1976-79). Although these ideas diverged from the dominant post-regime ideology of the periods political, social, and cultural transformation, they already announced the will of many women to actively participate in the creation of a new order of coexistence. These feminist texts questioned the collective imagination that considered the musas del destape (muses of nudity) as symbols of the new democratic openness and sexual freedom. At the same time, the texts also advocated for differentiated subjectivities and new forms of desire emerging from women’s own experiences.

This project investigates how these ideas were embodied in the construction of characters and performances of a young generation of female actors (Victoria Abril, Carmen Maura, Charo López, Ángela Molina, or Ana Belén, among others) who debuted at the end of the dictatorship and, during this period, achieved stardom, maturity, and interpretative mastery while becoming popular icons. This research project expects the following results:

a) A cartography of narrative and visual motifs in Spanish cinema during the period that would allow us to identify the diverse representations of women in relation to work, class, family, sex, love, gender-based violence, and civil rights.
b) An analysis of the interpretative construction of rich, diverse, and complex characters that are subjects of their own desire attuned, from new forms of female subjectivity, with processes of cultural change.
c) A re-reading of the Transition and post-Transitions cultural history through the relationship between feminist theory, legislative and socio-political changes, and the evolution of cinematographic stars.
d) A study on the representation of subjectivities in Spanish cinema of the period through characters and female actors of different ages and typologies, with the goal to document the practice and direction of actors and to establish connections with contemporary media made by women.
e) A study on female actresses’ active role in the critique of stereotypes and the control of their own image or self-representation, emotional expression, and the production of new subjectivities that, following Teresa de Lauretis (2000), contemplates all the differences and contradictions within feminism.
f) The reaffirmation of a model of cinematographic re-reading of the history of Spanish cinema that incorporates the role of Spanish female actors in the discourse and processes of film creation.

This research is conceived as a way to raise public awareness of the way in which the history of cinema has been constructed in relation to the filming of women and their subjectivities, claiming the creative work of the actresses and also all those stories and ideas of writers and thinkers of enormous value who were marginalized from the official narratives of our History. For this reason, a varied and extensive set of dissemination, impact and internationalization activities has been designed in multiple areas, including the publication of scientific articles, a monograph or the participation and organization of congresses. There will also be public outreach activities, such as the dissemination of montages and video-essays, presentations, screenings and the creation and distribution of teaching materials.