Patriarchy's Remains: An Autopsy of Iberian Cinematic Dark Humour

Something is rotten in the state of Spain. The uninterred corpse of a patriarchal figure populates the visual landscapes of Iberian cinemas. He is chilled, drugged, perfumed, ventilated, presumed dead, speared in the cranium, and worse.

Analyzing a series of Iberian cinematic dark comedies from the 1950s to the present day, Patriarchy’s Remains argues that the cinematic trope of the patriarchal death symbolizes the lingering remains of the Francisco Franco dictatorship in Spain (1939–75). Th...