Palomitas

• 7. El laberinto del fauno (Guillermo del Toro, 2006) (with Ann Davies)

  Episode 7 descends into a dark, enchanted maze. We're discussing Guillermo del Toro's modern masterpiece, Pan's Labyrinth (2006), with our special guest, world-renowned expert Professor Ann Davies, Emeritus Professor of Spanish at the University of Stirling.In the brutal Spain of 1944, young Ofelia confronts the monstrous fascist Captain Vidal, her stepfather, and undertakes a terrifying quest in an ancient labyrinth for a mythical faun. Is she a lost princess of an underground realm, or is she crafting a fantasy to survive? A haunting fusion of historical drama and brutal fairy tale.We explore:The two equally real (?) worlds: How del Toro makes the fantasy quest and the historical trauma of post-Civil War Spain feel intertwined and equally threatening.Monsters as mirrors: From the child-eating Pale Man to Captain Vidal - decoding the film’s allegories for fascism, consumption, and patriarchal violence.Obedience vs. Disobedience: How Ofelia’s key trait becomes the ultimate act of resistance against a regime obsessed with order and cleanliness.A transnational haunting: What does a Mexican director bring to this specifically Spanish story, and why did this film about the maquis resonate with a global audience?An ambiguous ending: Is Ofelia’s fate a tragic consolation or a hopeful victory? What does the film’s conclusion tell us about historical memory and resistance?Scholarship & further exploration cited in the episode:(For the books, ask your library - university and/or public - to buy a copy! Trust us: librarians are always eager for requests!)Davies, Ann, Deborah Shaw, and Dolores Tierney, eds. 2014. The Transnational Fantasies of Guillermo del Toro. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Davies, Ann. 2025. The Nightmares of Presence: Space and Place in Spanish Gothic and Horror Film. London: Bloomsbury.Orme, Jennifer. 2010. “Narrative Desire and Disobedience in Pan’s Labyrinth.” Marvels & Tales 24 (2): 219–234.Zipes, Jack. 2011. The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films. New York: Routledge.Film Recommendations:The Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001), The Spirit of the Beehive (Víctor Erice, 1973), The Orphanage (J.A. Bayona, 2007).

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• 6. Fe de etarras (Borja Cobeaga, 2017) (with Alison Posey)

  This week on Palomitas, we dive into the explosive, darkly comic world of Fe de etarras [Bomb Scared] (Borja Cobeaga, 2017) with special guest Dr. Alison Posey, (newly appointed) Assistant Professor of Spanish at Transylvania University. A tragicomic farce that turns terrorism into a punchline, the film traps four bumbling ETA members in a flat during Spain’s euphoric 2010 World Cup victory, waiting for orders that never come. As national pride erupts around them, their revolutionary ideals unravel into absurdity, ego clashes, and crockpot nationalism.We unpack:How Cobeaga uses food, football, and Trivial Pursuit to skewer Basque identity myths and the failure of radical dreams.The film’s controversial place as one of Netflix España's first original films and the firestorm over its provocative marketing campaign.Whether satire can effectively process historical trauma or if it risks trivialising ETA’s violent legacy.The film’s bold departure from solemn ETA dramas, offering a shocking, laugh-out-loud, and surprisingly poignant critique of nationalism in post-ceasefire Spain.Can reducing a terrorist to a joke be a victory for society? Tune in to find out.Scholarship cited in the episode:Barrenetxea Marañón, Igor, and Gabriela Viadero Carral. “El fin de ETA y Ocho apellidos vascos (2013), de Emilio Martínez Lázaro.” Aportes Revista de historia contemporánea 32, no. 94 (2017).Castro, Deborah, and Concepción Cascajosa Virino. “From Netflix to Movistar+: How Subscription Video-on-Demand Services Have Transformed Spanish TV Production.” JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 59, no. 3 (2020): 154–60. https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2020.0019.Hilborn, Matthew. Film Comedy and Spain. Oxford: Legenda, 2025.Mueller, Stephanie A. “Terrorist-Turned-Entrepreneur: Basque Masculinities in Fe de etarras.” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos 55, no. 1 (2021): 139–63. https://doi.org/10.1353/rvs.2021.0008.Posey, Alison. “The Ocho apellidos vascos Effect: Disavowing Difference in Fe de etarras.” In Center and Periphery: Twenty-First-Century Literature, Cinema, Media from Spain, edited by Amparo Alpañés, 3–30. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2025.

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• 5. Documentaries on Spanish Feminisms (with Abigail Loxham)

  Episode 5 dives into two explosive Spanish documentaries - both on Netflix - shaking up the fight for gender justice, with special guest Dr. Abigail Loxham, Reader in Hispanic Film Studies at the University of Liverpool.No estás sola: la lucha contra la Manada (Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar, 2024) - The harrowing story of the La Manada gang rape case and the feminist uprising that forced Spain to reckon with its sexual assault laws. #SeAcabó: El diario de las campeonas (Joanna Pardos, 2024) - Inside the Spanish women’s football team’s World Cup triumph and their battle against the RFEF’s toxic misogyny - from Rubiales’ infamous kiss to systemic abuse.We unpack: - How these films expose institutional violence - from courtrooms to locker rooms. - The activist power of documentary storytelling about, and as part of, Spain’s feminist movements. - What’s still missing? Which voices remain sidelined? Scholarship cited in the episode:(For the books, ask your library - university and/or public - to buy a copy! Trust us: librarians are always eager for requests!)Cabezas, Marta. 2022. “Silencing Feminism? Gender and the Rise of the Nationalist Far Right in Spain.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 47 (2): 319–345. ⁠Fowler, Catherine, and Sergio Moro. 2024. “⁠Introduction: #(No)SeAcabó/It Is (Not) Over: The Rubiales/Hermoso Non-Consensual Kiss and the Growth of a Culture of Concern⁠.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 28 (1): 217–222. Itoiz Rodrigo-Jusue, Katie Liston, Mark Doidge, Jack Black,Gary Sinclair, Thomas Fletcher, Colm Kearns, Daniel Kilvington, and Theo Lynn. 2025. “⁠#SeAcabó: How a Mass-Mediated ‘Social Drama’ Made Visible and Confronted (Subjective and Objective) Violence in Women’s Football in Spain⁠.” Feminist Media Studies. Loxham, Abigail, and Anja Louis. 2024. Femininity and Feminism in Spanish TV Dramas. Cham: Springer.Loxham, Abigail, and Deborah Shaw. 2024. “⁠‘You Are Not Alone’: Powerful New Film Documents How Women’s Protest Against Misogyny Helped Change Spain’s Rape Laws.⁠” The Conversation, April 4. 

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• 4. Mi querida cofradía (Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz, 2018) (with Erin K Hogan)

  Matthew discusses Mi querida cofradía (Marta Díaz, 2018) with Dr Erin K. Hogan, Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Think feminist farce, dark humour, Catholic imagery, and challenges to patriarchy, as laughter becomes a tool of resistance and transformation. What does it take for a woman to become leader?Scholarship cited in the episode: (For the books, ask your library - university and/or public - to buy a copy! Trust us: librarians are always eager for requests!)Evans, Jo. 2011. '⁠Almodóvar’s ‘Others’: Spanish Women Film-Makers, Masquerade, and Maternity⁠'. In A Companion to Spanish Women’s Studies, ed. by Xon de Ros and Geraldine Hazbun (Tamesis), pp. 329-42.Hogan, Erin K. 2024. Patriarchy's Remains: An Autopsy of Iberian Cinematic Dark Humour (McGill-Queen's University Press). Hogan, Erin K. 2020. 'Specular Comedies of Manslaughter by Inés París and Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz', Journal of Gender and Sexuality Studies, 46 (1-2), 215-236. Hogan, Erin K. and García Puente, María. 2019. 'The Passion of Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz: A Conversation with the Filmmaker'. In Gynocine: A History of Spanish Women's Cinema, ed. by Barbara Zecchi (University of Massachusetts Press), pp. 1-16. Parés, Luis E. 2019. 'Comedies with Corpses but Without Weeping or Mourning', Comparative Cinema, 7:13, pp. 24-38. 

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• 3. Volver (Pedro Almodóvar, 2006) (with Prof Sarah Wright & Dr Miguel García)

  In episode three, Matthew chats all things Volver (Pedro Almodóvar, 2006) with not one but two extra-special guests: Prof Sarah Wright (Professor of Hispanic Studies and Screen Arts, Royal Holloway) and Dr Miguel García (Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies, Bristol University). Scholarship cited in the episode:(For the books, ask your library - university and/or public - to buy a copy! Trust us: librarians are always eager for requests!)- Hilborn, Matthew. 2025. Film Comedy and Spain: Humour, Genre, and the Nation 1970-2020. Legenda. - Kinder, Marsha. 2009. ‘All About the Brothers: Retroseriality in Almodóvar’s Cinema’, in All About Almodóvar: A Passion for Cinema, ed. by Brad Epps and Despina Kakoudaki (Minnesota University Press), pp. 267–94. - Medhurst. Andy. 2009. ‘Heart of Farce: Almodóvar’s Comic Complexities’, in All About Almodóvar: A Passion for Cinema, ed. by Brad Epps and Despina Kakoudaki (University of Minnesota Press), pp. 118–38.- Sánchez-Arce, Ana María. 2020. The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar. Manchester University Press.

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