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Abstract

Spain has had a long history of determining its own identity through successive regime changes, national crises and shifting international alliances. With Las Chicas de la Sexta Planta (Le Guay, 2011), Torremolinos 73 (Berger, 2003), Miente (De Ocampo, 2008) and The Way (Estévez, 2010) as a guide, I examine the distinctive characteristics of Spansh identity across three notable sections of its history: Francoist Spain (1939-1975), “free” Spain (1975-1986), and Spain as a member of the supranational European Union (EU) (1986-), or the European Economic Community (EEC) at that time. These films and time periods help to shed light on important changes of Spanish opinion/behavior towards Europe and vice versa. Finally, I analyze some of the observable results, both good and bad, of European unification (Europeanization) in modern Spain, and conclude that while the Spanish cultural landscape has become much more open through Europeanization, it has also experienced negative repercussions like a rise of xenophobic/nationalist sentiments surrounding the European identity and the concerning activity of cross-border human trafficking.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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