| “Almodóvar and After” | In this 2001 article, Nicholas Velasquez breaks down Almodóvar’s films into different categories, listing the number of gay, trans, bi, or queer characters in each of the films. |
| “Spain and the Mediterranean Model” | This is a 2003 article by Inaki Tofino about identity politics in Spain. Among countries in Europe, Spain is a bit of a paradox. Though it has followed a “political evolution closer to the identity politics model found in the Northern countries”, it is still a Mediterranean country that does not have a “strong political movement or an established gay community.” The “Mediterranean” model of homosexual identity is one that says homoerotic acts between men are there, but there is not necessarily a “homosexual identity.” “Coming out”, which is something highly emphasized in other countries, such as the United States, is “viewed as a disruption of the social order” and carries with it an implication of a “permanent gay persona that must accompany the person in every situation.” |
| Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar | This 1994 book by Paul Julían Smith is a comprehensive look at both the film and the writing career and accomplishments of Pedro Almodóvar. |
| Spanish Queer Cinema | This 2013 book by Chris Perriam attempts to cover the history of queer cinema in Spain, while guiding the reader to short films, independent films, and popular films that feature queer characters or storylines. |
| “Screening sexual and gendered otherness in Almodóvar’s Law of Desire (1987)—The real ‘sexual revolution’” | In this 2006 article by Brigída Pastor, the author writes that Almodóvar actively subverts the “orthodox heterocentrism of Spanish tradition”, a tradition that “judges and discriminates against individuals depending on their sex, gender and sexuality.” ). In traditional Spanish cinema, the ‘deviant’, or homosexual, or bisexual, or transgender person, would be marginalized and excluded from the “norm in culture, and, therefore, excluded from classical film narrative.” |
| “Queering Gender: The New Femme Fatale in Almodóvar’s La mala educación (2004)” | In this 2013 article by Brigída Pastor, the author writes that Almodóvar is considered by most to be a “women’s director”, as he doesn’t “create from the traditional male perspective, but from a peculiar feminine gendered perspective” and he has managed to create a “counter gaze to the traditional male gaze.” Bad Education has very few female characters, and the femme fatale is recreated by Almodóvar in Gael García Bernal, who plays Juan. The invisibility of queerness in everyday society explains the re-gendering that occurs within the film, allowing Juan to seamlessly slip into the role of femme fatale. |
