Confronting success: film narratives of social contestation

Abstract

The notion of success appears frequently as the epitome of personal fulfilment and films have been often selected as the preferred vehicle for materializing narratives of prosperity, triumph and good life. Nevertheless, films may also be used as devices for the exposure of uncertainty, disenchantment or broken hopes. In this article, I propose to use some particular examples of Spanish movies as empirical repertoire for considering the relevance of fiction films in confronting uncertainty and both exposing social discontent and promoting active contestation, thus weaving a sense of continuum between different generations and contexts.