"Quinqui" Film in Spain: Peripheries of Society and Myths on the Margins

by Anthem Press

Overview

This volume of essays focuses on films of the so-called quinqui genre, films created during the 1970s–1980s depicting the lives of young criminals from the outskirts of Spanish cities, that arose/spread during the uncertain transitional period in a Spain moving from a dictatorship to a democracy. The quinqui films, produced and released on a shoestring budget, were nonetheless immensely popular, although never fully considered as part of the national film production in academic circles due to their “B” nature and low quality. These films encapsulate many of the concerns that Spaniards were facing (unemployment, class conflict and disparity, wild economic growth, increasing violence and crime activity, illegal drugs ravaging the youth, etc.) and consequently they had an impact on social, cultural, and emotional levels in the reborn country. In addition to recent interest in these films as cultural products, this book presents a thorough and multi-perspective analysis of the implications for film and society that these films reveal, clarifying both: the Spanish filmic panorama as well as the canon, and the socio-political situation in a country that was going through one of the most controversial and tumultuous times of its contemporary history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785272318
Publisher:	Anthem Press
Publication date:	01/31/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	941 KB

About the Author

Jorge González del Pozo is a full professor of spanish at the University of Michigan-Dearborn where he teaches Spanish literature, film, culture and language.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Rehearsing Circles, Hilario J. Rodríguez; Introduction: Quinqui Film as a Reflection of the Transition, Illusions and Shadows of the Great Change, Jorge González del Pozo and Juan Laborda Barceló; Chapter 1 Cinema on the Margin. Reflection on Quinqui Filmography by Eloy de la Iglesia, Javier Sánchez Cortina and Teresa Cortina de la Calle; Chapter 2 Heroes and Anti-heroes. . . From the Neighborhood: The History of Postmodern "Robinhoods”. Alberto Pascual Pérez; Chapter 3 The Repercussion in the National Press of Derpisa, deprisa (1981), Alejandro Gutiérrez; Chapter 4 Siete vírgenes (2005): Quinquis for the New Millennium, Fernando Marañón; Chapter 5 Margin, Marginality and Delinquency in the area of Quinqui: from Nomadism to the Suburbs in Volando voy (2006) by Miguel Albaladejo, Agustín Cuadrado Gutiérrez; Chapter 6 Todos me llaman gato (1980), Suburban Animals, Andrés Maté Lázaro; Chapter 7 Women on the Warpath. Perras callejeras (1985) by José Antonio de la Loma, Juan Laborda Barceló; Chapter 8 Quinquilleras, Exploitation and Forced Capitalism in Barcelona sur (1981) by Jordi Cadena: An Atypical Case of Delinquent Women in the Unstructured City of the 80s during the Spanish Transition, Jorge González del Pozo; Index.

Editorial Reviews

‘Quinqui’ Film in Spain examines the film production of the Spanish transition to democracy that focussed on the marginalized subjects referred to as “Quinquis” (delinquents, drug-addicts, young criminals). The book does an outstanding job of editing and selecting very interesting original works related to different aspects of this low-budget genre. […] Together with its predecessor, Fuera de la ley: Asedios al fenómeno quinqui en la transición Española (2015), this work makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the emergence of democracy in the latter half of twentieth-century Spain.”
—Cristina Moreiras-Menor, Professor of Spanish &Women’s Studies, University of Michigan, USA

"The book provides an extensive contextualization of the quinqui cultural phenomena, together with a comprehensive explanation of its formal and thematic features, as well as an in-depth analysis of its subversive potential and its long-lasting impact in society. It is an outstanding source of information for film lovers, students, and scholars from many different disciplines who are willing to delve into the history and culture of the Spanish Transición. — Ortiz-València, Sandra. Review of Quinqui Film in Spain: Peripheries of Society and Myths on the Margins ed. by Jorge González del Pozo. Hispania, vol. 104 no. 1, 2021, p. 130-131. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/hpn.2021.0026. "

From the Publisher