Abstract

Among contemporary auteurs, perhaps none is more concerned with the oppression of the female voice than Spain’s Pedro Almodóvar. Slavoj Žižek has recently theorized the concept of the parallax gap as it relates to both texts and societies. This essay will read Almodovar’s film "Volver" through Žižek’s theorization of the parallax gap and the ideological category of tolerance. The ideological category of tolerance provides a theoretical framework to understand the degree to which Spanish society has tolerated male-dominated discourse and, correspondingly, oppressed female discourse. The category of tolerance thus illuminates Almodóvar’s extensive, yet profound, critique of rural Spanish society. Culture, Žižek argues, is “the ultimate source of barbarism […] one’s direct identification with a particular culture, which renders one intolerant towards other cultures” . In light of Almodóvar’s "Volver", it follows that culture is also intolerant to changes to its own status quo that threaten the authorities of its hegemonic power structure. Finally, this article would constitute a much-needed contribution to a minimal body of film criticism that links Žižek’s theories with Almodóvar’s films in hopes of stimulating interest in the ways in which the former’s theories can illuminate ideas at work in the latter’s films