Domesticidad e imaginarios del consumo en El inquilino (1957), La vida por delante (1958) y Elpisito (1959)

This article examines a body of films which question consumerism through the articulation of new scopic regimes emerging in the wake of Spanish desarrollismo (1957–1959). By focusing on recurring visual fantasies in El inquilino (Nieves Conde 1957), La vida por delante (Fernán Gómez 1958), and El pisito (Ferreri and Ferry 1959), the present analysis reveals how specific imaginary coordinates of consumption were produced within the cinematic mode of production during the fifties. To this end, it explores the intersection between imported models of domesticity and the production of gender identities through consumption in cinema and advertising. These movies offer a challenge to narratives of progress based on the mythical access to commodities in a country still largely beset by scarcity and systemic poverty.