Introduction: "El futuro ya estuvo aquí"

In general terms, it could be argued that the study of Spanish contemporary culture and literature is mostly characterized through the experience and the aftermath of the Francoist dictatorship that lasted over thirty-five years since the end of the Civil War in 1939. From this perspective, there are two sides of this past that receives continued critical attention. First, the repression suffered by Spanish society under the authoritarian regime and the mostly unsuccessful struggles against its ideological and political apparatus. Second, the cultural and political change undergone by Spaniards after the disappearance of Franco amid a continued relationship with the country's dictatorial past. The first look into this past often results in a narrative that largely paints a static social and cultural landscape of Spain as a country that remained in a position of backwardness in relation to most of its European neighbors and other societies of the West from the 40s until the early 70s. A situation that resonates with anybody slightly familiar with Spanish history, this view is in fact not limited to modern history, but seems to be irremediably connected to the affairs of this land in varying degrees from very early on, extending as far back as the seventeenth century. In stark contrast, the other side of this examination into contemporary Spanish history projects a very different and contrasting narrative about its recent past. After Franco's death in 1975, the focus on Spanish society and its cultural production has been overly determined by notions of ideological and social transformation, however real or imagined, postulating a concept of radical cultural and political shift towards freedom and democracy. As the pop rock group Radio Futura song "Enamorado de la moda juvenil" proclaimed widely and popularly in 1981 "el futuro ya está aquí," Spanish society after 1975 seemed to be living at a staggering pace towards change, freedom, and ultimately, the future. It is within this context we should place what we have come to recognize as Movida, an underground cultural phenomenon of the late 1970s and early 1980s, that despite the numerous disagreements its only mention produces, it is undeniable that it has come to epitomize change and the perceived arrival of modernity in post-Franco Spain.

Briefly summarized, the Movida has been loosely understood as the exciting eruption of energy of a society repressed for so long, one that embraced all the previously condemned social taboos, especially those that had to do with drug use and sex, particularly sexual acts perceived as transgressive like homosexuality or the subversion of traditional gender roles through crossdressing and transgendered identity. This setting also led to instances of creative and fertile artistic activity that started in Madrid but quickly moved to and thrived in other regional capitals. However, because they were largely characterized (especially retrospectively) for their frivolity, bad taste, and excess, the interest in this so-called phenomenon as a cultural movement promptly diminished. Instead, it became fodder for political rhetoric, one that either tried to benefit from its conflation with change or to denounce its excesses from a moralistic standpoint not always separated from political interests. Excluding the name of Pedro Almodóvar (b. 1949), who from the beginning has been closely related to the Movida, and his films, this movement was hastily dismissed by cultural critics, politicians, and even some of its principal protagonists. Compared to and read against the backdrop of the failures of the Spanish political transition, it was used as evidence as the country's incapacity to purge its authoritarian past. Ironically, as we currently witness the regular commemoration of the Movida anniversaries and the organization of related events by both political and cultural entities, its dismissal did not end the discussion around this movement. Rather, it has become an unclosed chapter in contemporary Spanish culture, one that continues to be summoned but fails each time to reach its peace.

Reflective of this ongoing debate are the works that exist around the Movida which have been largely dominated by biographical perspectives, political readings, and state-sponsored celebratory commemorations. As indispensable and compelling as J. L...