An Analysis of the Modes of Allusion and Parody: Intertextual Relationships Between Painting and Pedro Almodóvar's Films Based on the Theories of Gérard Genette and Linda Hutcheon

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student of Art Research, Department of Research Excellence in Art and Entrepreneurship, Art Research Group, Art University of Isfahan. Isfahan, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Painting, Faculty of Visual Arts, Art University of Isfahan. Isfahan, Iran.

3 Associate Professor, Department of Television, Radio and Television Faculty, IRIB University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The relationship between cinema and painting has long been considered a subject of interest. Pedro Almodóvar is a prominent and progressive filmmaker in new Spanish cinema. His movies are marked by a distinct style and an idiosyncratic aesthetic expression. Frequently, Almodóvar has acknowledged being influenced by various sources. Almodóvar should be counted among the filmmakers whose films have a strong connection to the art of painting. He is one of the directors whose works are fundamentally based on an aesthetic framework of painting. The use of paintings as part of the cinematic mise-en-scène and the recreation of famous paintings within the cinematographic frame are considered to be the primary relationships between Almodóvar's works and art. However, sometimes these connections transcend facile associations and require greater effort to sufficiently be comprehended.
Almodóvar employs various techniques of reference for oeuvres from classical painters such as Diego Velázquez, and Titian; modern artists like Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Edward Hopper, and Picasso in addition to even the abstract painters like Piet Mondrian and Mark Rothko. This feature places him among the directors exhibiting a unique knowledge of painting in their films. The present research conducts a qualitative analysis of paintings in Almodóvar's films. This study aims to examine painting in Almodóvar's cinema by posing the question of how Pedro Almodóvar's films have been influenced by painting. This developmental research utilizes a descriptive-analytical, comparative methodology and a theoretical framing approach to study the modes of cinematic allusion based on Gérard Genette's intertextuality theory and Linda Hutcheon's theory of parody. Case studies include the prominent works of this filmmaker from the 1980s.
The findings indicate that the cinematographic frames in Almodóvar's films have been transcribed from painting in various ways. In the first case, the relationship between the cinematic frames and the paintings is a simple intertextual allusion, whereby the filmmaker, inspired by a painting, recreates it in the cinematic frame, known as tableaux vivant. At times, these allusions transcend a simple association and take on a metaphorical quality, forging a particular connection with the world of the film's characters. In some cases, the intertextual relationship leads to a multilayered connection that generates a new texture of allusion and trans-contextualizing occurs, a concept derived from the theoretical dimensions of Linda Hutcheon's parody, which is perceived as a significant feature of modern art. In some instances, the relationship between Almodóvar's cinematic frames and paintings follows an ironic inversion, whereby a form of allusion and imitation is observed but with a repetition that contains differences, possibly employed for purposes such as critique or recreation. In some cases, Almodóvar uses the frame as a painter's canvas, employing cinematic techniques to create scenes reminiscent of abstract paintings.

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References

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Journal of Fine Arts: Performing Arts & Music
Volume 28, Issue 3
September 2023
Pages 45-56

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