El documental cinematográfico y televisivo contemporáneo

This book examines how a selected group of documentaries made since 1995 for both film and television inform the debate centered on the so-called "recuperation of memory" of the Spanish Civil War and dictatorship. Estrada contends that these documentaries modify Spanish identity as it was conceived by the teleological historical project of the transition. The narrative of mass media should be examined in order to comprehend the process of the "recovery of memory" that culminated in the 'Law of Historical Memory' (2007). She carries out a comparative analysis of the visual discourse of the documentary and the narrative discourses of history and testimony, paying special attention to the relations of power among them. Using theoretical frameworks provided by Badiou, Adorno, Renov, and Ricoeur, this study ultimately sheds light on the status of the victim in the context of Spain's neoliberal democracy. Isabel M. Estrada is Visiting Assistant Professor, Franklin & Marshall College.