Reflected Horrors: Violence, War, and the Image in Guillermo del Toro’s El espinazo del diablo/The Devil’s Backbone (2001)

Abstract

Much of the current scholarly work conducted on Guillermo del Toro’s Spanish-language films (Cronos [1993], El espinazo del Diablo/The Devil’s Backbone [2001], and El laberinto del fauno/Pan’s Labyrinth [2006]) has, among other things, observed the cultural and economic context for their production (Shaw, 2013), the element of the reappropriation of history within the narratives (Hardcastle, 2005), and the filmic texts’ engagement with national discourse prevalent at the time of making (Labanyi, 2007). These concerns are manifested in the forms of a rapidly changing society brought about through entry into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (Cronos) or the modern hauntings of the nationally repressed historical trauma of the Spanish Civil War (El espinazo, El laberinto). This chapter will take as its exploratory premise the examination of El espinazo—the first of del Toro’s Spanish Civil War films. Taking on board and expanding upon scholarly work conducted in the field, the chapter will examine the significance and role of the specter in El espinazo, beyond the symbolic and cognitive meanings attributed to its presence. It will read the framing of the ghostly apparitions in the narrative as examples of del Toro’s attempts to redefine the gothic mode on the screen.