Matz, Maria R.

Dr. Maria Matz holds a Ph.D from Texas Tech University in Spanish where she defended in 2002. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies and Culture at the University of Massachusetts Lowell where she has been since 2007.

How the Films of Pedro AlmodÓvar Draw Upon and Influence Spanish Society: Bilingual Essays on His Cinema

2012 0-7734-2922-0
In the films of Pedro Almodóvar one experiences a vivid representation of Spanish life. His films are discussed here in lieu of gender relations, power dynamics, Spanish cultural identity, and inter-textually with other directors such as Alfred Hitchcock. The essays are written in both English and Spanish. They try to bring together a broad variety of interpretations to his popular films. Many articles deal with issues of gender and representations of cultural iconography from Catholicism on love and death.

Through a variety of authors and angles, as well as in two languages, this volume opens new perspectives on the films of Pedro Almodóvar. This work portrays how Almodóvar reaches into Spanish history and utilizes social changes that followed the fall of Franco to form his aesthetic creations. The book links the transformations of Spanish society and that of the evolution, if not the maturity of the filmmaker as he observes a society that is finally free to be and become what it desires. Each chapter reveals how the audience can witness the auteur’s maturation at the same pace as that of the Spanish society. Just like Almodóvar’s films, often criticized for their complex plots, today’s Spain is a complex mosaics that is constantly evolving and adjusting to the world that surrounds it. If many questions about what defines and inspires the filmmaker’s personal vision of the world still remain, one thing is for sure: the Almodóvar phenomenon has established an international image of Spain that is open and yet traditional, vibrant, and dynamic.