Femininity Easy Access System Europe Oü Femininity and constructing national identity in Spanish postwar cinema, 1939–45 / Book / 2026

A comparative study of censorship of the portrayals of female wartime heroism in Spanish films of the immediate post-Civil War to the end of WWII in relation to Hollywood cinema of the period, and the creative ways Spanish directors undermined the censors through comedy and melodrama.

Femininity and constructing national identity in Spanish postwar cinema, 1939–1945 examines the representation of female characters in Spanish films from the end of the Civil War to the end of World War II. Rather than an analysis that falls strictly within the genre of film studies, this work incorporates the political, social, and financial maneuverings of those who worked behind the scenes in producing these films. The goal is to provide a more accurate picture of how the Spanish film industry projected ideals of femininity in the immediate postwar years, including the erasure of female heroism in times of crisis. It focuses on the struggles between producers, directors, and the censorship board; the impact of specific historical circumstances on film production; how emerging directors tailored their films to garner official support; and the interactions between Hollywood and Spanish cinema.

Femininity and constructing national identity in Spanish postwar cinema, 1939-1945 examines the intersection of gender politics and Spanish film production in the period between the end of the Spanish Civil War and the end of WWII. This was a period when the Franco regime was attempting to rewrite the history of the Spanish Civil War in the popular imagination through the production of war pictures that glorified the victors. Surprisingly, director’s who has proven themselves firm supporters of the Franco regime had their work censored when they attempted to portray female wartime heroism. Through comparative studies of films that received official support and those that were censored, a clear pattern emerges that outlines the parameters of how women could acceptably be portrayed in an emerging Spanish industry that sought to define the place of women in postwar Spanish society.