Representations of Humans and Technology: The Construction of Identity in Miguel Bardem, Pedro Almodóvar, and Alejandro Amenábar

Abstract

Extensive theoretical, literary, and cinematic work in the last century confirms the interest of scholars, filmmakers, and the general public in the topic of individual and collective identity. But such work has focused much of its attention on issues of sex, gender, ethnicity, and national or global identity, while disregarding the impact of science and technology. Science and technology have played important roles in the construction of identity in Spanish narratives, Cervantes being an early precursor, and even today continues to be central to the work of contemporary writers and filmmakers. Unfortunately, Spanish literary or cinematic criticism¹ has paid little attention to this phenomenon. This chapter will attempt, in some small measure, to correct this oversight by delineating the role that science, technology, and technological discourse have played in the construction of human identity in Spanish literature and film, beginning with Nobel Prize winner Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934) and concluding with Miguel Bardem’s film, La mujer más fea del mundo (1999) [The Ugliest Woman in the World].