From the medicalisation of dementia to the politics of memory and identity in three Spanish documentary films: Bicicleta, cullera, poma, Las voces de la memoria and Bucarest: la memòria perduda

Raquel Medina*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper explores how the concept of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is constructed through Spanish media and documentary films and how it is represented. The article analyses three documentary films and the cultural and social contexts in and from which they emerged: Solé´s Bucarest: la memòria perduda [Bucharest: Memory Lost] (2007), Bosch´s Bicicleta, cullera, poma [Bicycle, Spoon, Apple] (2010) , and Frabra’s Las voces de la memoria [Memory´s Voices] (2011). The three documentary films approach AD from different perspectives, creating well-structured discourses of what AD represents for contemporary Spanish society, from medicalisation of AD to issues of personhood and citizenship. These three films are studied from an interdisciplinary perspective, in an effort to strengthen the links between ageing and dementia studies and cultural studies. Examining documentary film representations of AD from these perspectives enables semiotic analyses beyond the aesthetic perspectives of film studies, and the exploration of the articulation of knowledge and power in discourses about AD in contemporary Spain
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1688-1710
Number of pages21
JournalAgeing and Society
Volume34
Issue number10
Early online date27 Jun 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2014

Keywords

  • Alzheimer's disease
  • memory
  • identity
  • documentary film
  • Spain
  • dementia
  • citizenship
  • personhood
  • Spanish politics

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