Luis García Berlanga and the portrayal of The Spanish Civil War: La vaquilla (1985) as cinematic esperpento

Abstract

The esperpento, beyond the literary conception coined by Ramón María del  Valle-Inclán,  entails  singular  aesthetics  which  can  be  transferred  to  other  arts,  as  it  is  the  case  of  film.  The  cinematic  esperpento,  even  though  it  assimilates  its  main  characteristics  into  the  audiovisual  medium,  has  not  had  a  historically  well-defined  path  within  Spanish  film, as it did not quite fit in the common waves of dissident cinema and francoist cinema. As an answer to this problem, the aim of this essay is to analyze La vaquilla (Luis García Berlanga, 1985) as a paradigmatic example  of  the  Spanish  cinematic  esperpento,  even  if  it  has  not  been  considered  like  that  by  other  authors  or  has  been  generally  ignored.  Through  this  analysis,  the  aesthetic  functionality  of  the  genre  will  be  observed and its systematically deforming approach will lead to draw unique   conclusions   regarding   the   extremely   traumatic   event   that   the  Spanish  Civil  War  was,  which  shaped  the  historical  memory  of  the  nation.  In  this  sense,    the  narrative  possibilities  of  the  cinematic  esperpento  and  the  necessity  to  give  the  genre  a  historical  place  of  its  own will be vindicated.