Questions of Imagology in the cinema made in Asturies in the 21th century

Abstract

This paper puts forward an imagological analysis of Asturian fiction cinema. Traditionally, imagology has been used in comparative literature as a means
of analysis of specific traits of national literatures, such as themes, characters, archetypes and the perceptions abroad. More recently, imagology has adopted sociological and semiotic perspectives to develop more sophisticated analytical tools in the study not only of literature but also of those cinematic and artistic discourses that have become characteristic of contemporary complex, post-identity societies. The paper focuses on two of these imagological concepts and their possible application to the contemporary cinema made in Asturias. Firstly, the asymmetry between Asturian self-image and hetero-image in fiction films shot in Asturias – the former revealing an Asturian perspective while the latter is commonly associated to non-Asturian views of the region. Secondly, the notion of place branding and the diverse ways it is mobilized in relation to Asturias in contemporary cinema. A detailed study of Brand Asturias would require a much broader analysis and would go beyond the cinematic scope of this paper; however, it is put forward that fiction cinema contains important clues that can shed light in the rhetoric and politics of Brand Asturias as films aptly condense the Brand’s main proposition and project them both to the rest of the county and internationally. Some of the most salient propositions are described in this paper, including the use of the Asturian language, literary and cinematic intertextuality, references to the history and politics and Asturias, and the popular appeal of branding campaigns such as «Asturias, Paraíso Natural / Asturias, Nature’s Paradise».