Panelists

Valiant or Villainous: How Victorian Character Dichotomies Impact Romance Today

This paper explores how the binary opposition of male characters as hero and villain in Victorian literature influences how romance is written and understood today. Romance writers often place the leading love interest opposite a distinctly villainous secondary character, thereby elevating the romantic lead in the eyes of the object of his affection and the reader. I seek to understand and undo this pattern to better comprehend its persistent presence in the romance genre. Utilizing a comparative approach informed by Rachel Feder’s The Darcy Myth, I place a defining text of the Victorian genre, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, beside an equally significant modern romance, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight, to examine how character archetypes popularized by Austen appear today. Austen’s novel provides seemingly opposite characters in Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham, but what first appears to be a glaring juxtaposition becomes a false dichotomy rife with misogynistic behavior from both men that enables the counterfeit characterization of Mr. Darcy as the ultimate romantic hero. Meyer’s novel provides the opportunity to analyze the influence of Mr. Darcy’s mistaken characterization as a hero on modern-day romance in its leading male love interest, Edward Cullen. Like Austen, Meyer places Edward opposite villains to camouflage his own misogynistic, abusive behaviors. This paper delves into how understanding Darcy’s personality as something more complex than that of a romantic hero creates the opportunity to do the same with men of romance novels today and dismantle character dynamics that camouflage misogynistic behavior as romantic and heroic.

Antiheroes becoming heroes in a postheroic time: the representation of the heroic in True Detective

In an era like the current one, postheroic, the need for heroes and aspirational ideals seems to have been surpassed. In times when heroism was possible, the hero was a chosen one, “outside of time,” offered a heroic mission to influence their own time. Between the age of heroes and the postheroic era, antiheroism emerged, whose relativistic vision associated the hero solely with their time, detaching them from that “beyond time” perspective from which they received the heroic mission.

The goal of our paper will be to analyze how heroism is represented in the first season of True Detective (Nic Pizzolatto and Cary J. Fukunaga, HBO: 2014), an anthology series in which the two protagonists, Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson), are two antiheroes who are called to assume a heroic role-namely, to stop the villain, the author of horrendous crimes when they witness the emergence of evil in a world-their world, postheroic-that seems governed by a nihilistic relativism that denies the existence of good and evil. Both antiheroes partake in that relativism until the irruption of evil will invite them to take a stand for the good. 

Our paper will begin by defining three key concepts essential for our analysis: the hero, the antihero, and the postheroic era. It will then proceed with a journey through the series, analyzing its images to explain how it depicts antiheroes embracing heroism in a postheroic.

Franz Jägerstätter, the Authentic Hero: Bernard Lonergan’s Transcendental Precepts in Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life

While Bernard Lonergan’s transcendental method has rarely been applied to cinematic depictions of heroism, this article argues that his framework of authentic consciousness provides valuable insights into how Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life (2019) articulates the nature of heroic being. Through close analysis of Malick’s distinctive visual style, we demonstrate how Franz Jägerstätter’s journey embodies Lonergan's transcendental precepts: attentiveness (manifested through wide-angle compositions that emphasize his acute awareness of family and circumstance), intelligence (portrayed in his persistent questioning of the oath's implications), reasonableness (shown in his careful deliberation process, mediated party by asking advice within his community), and responsibility (culminating in his decision to accept the death penalty rather than betraying his conscience). Rather than imposing Lonergan's philosophy onto the film, this reading reveals how Malick’s “transcendental style” (to borrow Paul Schrader’s term) naturally aligns with Lonergan's understanding of how authenticity opens toward self-transcendence. The film’s visual and narrative strategies illuminate how Jägerstätter’s fidelity to conscious experience leads to a self-transcendent love that is ultimately divine in nature. This analysis contributes both to our philosophical understanding of heroism and demonstrates how, in an era of post-heroic cynicism, Malick achieves a nuanced celebration of heroic consciousness that neither simplifies moral courage nor denies its costly implications.

The Houellebecquian Homunculus, an Opportunistic Anti-hero

The homunculus is the most salient and sad symptom of our materialistic age, seemingly born with the novel, embodying a separate and incomplete being as if cast out of paradise and forever separated from the divine. Literature gave him a new realm, a space where his incomplete self essentially belongs through a didactic process of knowledge and reflexive pursuit. The Houellebecquian homunculus is a new contemporary incarnation of this painful process of distanciation. He is alienated, cowardly, weak, and neurotic but surprisingly opportunistic and ambitious. In the words of Georg Lukacs, the modern literary hero is essentially resigned to his fate. Yet the Houellebecquian homunculus finds new ways and scenarios to turn the world to its advantage. In this presentation, I’ll use Michel Houellebecq’s opus to illustrate the various literary stages that give rise to this immoral scrub who parades his shortcomings, appetite, and relative power around the globe. I'll talk about the European economic and social transformation in the 1960s and the advent of the modern hedonistic consumer, the other definition of the homunculus. Through his travels and the justification of his most immoral behaviors, we’ll seek to trace the limits of this avatar of modernity and the most significant moments of his creation.

From Sacrifice to Survival: The Special Period as Post-Heroic in Dime algo sobre Cuba by Jesús Díaz

In his 1998 novel Dime algo sobre Cuba, Jesús Díaz explores how the economic collapse of the Special Period shattered revolutionary narratives that had defined Cuban identity, replacing them with a survivalist ethos that challenged traditional notions of heroism.

This paper argues that the novel’s protagonist, Stalin Martínez, serves as a compelling anti-hero, as he transforms himself from a former revolutionary into a reluctant exile. As his name and actions suggest, he rejects the lofty ideals of ideological purity and self-sacrifice promoted by Castro’s regime, embracing instead pragmatism, self-preservation, and the rekindling of family ties. The character’s deepening cynicism and moral ambiguity mirror the broader disillusionment of Cuban society, where reductive slogans like “¡Patria o muerte!” are gradually hollowed out by economic desperation and the erosion of individual freedoms.

I further suggest that the Special Period itself can be understood as a time of post-heroism, in which the revolutionary archetype of the “New Man,” outlined by Che Guevara in El socialismo y el hombre en Cuba, gives way to disenchanted male figures struggling to navigate a crumbling system, often choosing exile as their only viable option.

Situated within a larger discourse on Cuban and Latin American post-revolutionary narratives, Díaz’s novel does more than deconstruct heroism; it envisions a new sensibility where survival, reconciliation, and emotional renewal take precedence—both on the island and within the diaspora. In doing so, Díaz offers an alternative to the exhausted binaries of heroes and traitors that have characterized post-revolutionary Cuba.

“Kaintuck” Harry: A reading of Fordian heroism in the newly recovered silent wester The Scarlet Drop (1918)

In our communication we propose a philosophical-filmic approach—in the Cavellian terms of a good encounter based on inspiring moments of reading and listening to the recently recovered film by John Ford which had been lost for almost one century: The Scarlet Drop (1918). 

After having had exclusive access to the fully restored silent film thanks to the work by the Chilean restorer and historian of cinema, Jaime Córdova, in our intervention in this international conference our aim is to (i) share with the academic community the background of the recovery of the film as well as to (ii) offer a first philosophical-filmic reflection on the piece of work by the director, framing it in the context of his first westerns, those that have been preserved from his silent productions (years 1917-1929). 

More specifically, in our intervention we want to share with the academic community an approach to the Fordian heroism observable in the film recently recovered and never enjoyed by the general public in Spain. Moreover, as it is one of the twenty six westerns that Ford made with Harry Carey in a leading role that made them both famous in the first stage of the director’s career, this “new” film also offers us the opportunity to trace a comparison of such film with previous productions, such as Straight Shooting (1917), or Bucking Broadway (1917), as well as with later westerns from the silent period such as Hell Bent (2018) or Cameo Kirby (1923), in the treatment of heroism.

Ella es el matador (She Is the Matador): Reframing the Heroic Memory of Women Through Film

For Spaniards – and for the world – nothing demonstrates the country’s traditionally rigid gender roles more powerfully than the image of the male matador. Even though bullfighting is considered controversial for many today, the role of the bullfighter has represented the idea of “the heroic” over many centuries. Goya, Picasso and Ernest Hemingway were all inspired by the bullfighter. So sacred was the bullfighter’s masculinity to Spanish identity that a 1908 law barred women from the sport. Ella es el matador is the first and only film that reveals the surprising history of the women who made such a law necessary and offers fascinating profiles of two female matadors currently in the arena, the veteran Maripaz Vega and neophyte Eva Florencia. These women are gender pioneers by necessity. But what emerges as their truest motivation is their sheer passion – for bullfighting and the pursuit of a dream.

Director and producer of the film Gemma Cubero del Barrio will share what it took to make this film with Celeste Carrasco over a period of 10 years and speak about how how Ella offers a new perspective and cinematic approach to expressing the heroic ideal through film.

A co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting. US Premiere: Silverdocs 2009; US National Broadcast PBS P.O.V.; Cervantes Institute educational tour through cities in Morocco, Russia, China and India. Awards: 2008 Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award for Documentary, Best Documentary at Festival de Cine de Mujeres de Cuenca & Audience Award at SECIME in Spain.

Journalist Karl Marx and his ‘live’ contribution to the mythification of Abraham Lincoln 

A historical figure mythicized like Abraham Lincoln is not born as a myth, but rather becomes a myth through a complex, collective, and unpredictable process, which is shaped in the realm of public opinion. This process is contributed to by both his contemporaries and later generations, who reshape and rework the legend of the figure. Likewise, the creation of a myth is influenced not only by admirers, but also by detractors, as demythologization is an inverted form of mythification, which, instead of nullifying a myth, makes it grow even more. Now, how do the contemporaries of a historical figure experience their gradual elevation to myth? To shed sorne light on how this process of mythification is experienced “live” by another contemporary historical figure, this paper aims to analyze how Karl Marx (1818-1883) critically observad the historical figure of the sixteenth President of the United States from his position as a journalist, and how his perception of him changad until he ended up surrendering to the legend and contributing, to sorne extent, to his mythification. In order to achieve this research objective, sorne of Marx’s personal letters are reviewed. The correspondence between the lnternational Workingmen’s Association and the President of the United States is also analyzed. And, above all, the numerous articles in which Marx discusses Lincoln, the American Civil War, and the emancipation of slaves are examinad. These articles were published between 1861 and 1865 in newspapers such as the American “New York Tribune” and the Austrian “Die Presse.” 

Swapping Roles: Terrorists and Victims of Terrorism as Heroes and Villains in Spanish Cinema 

The terrorist organization ETA (Basque Homeland and Liberty) was responsible for over 850 deaths in Spain between 1968 and 2011. lts historical significance has led to the production of numerous movies and series about ETA. lnitially, victims of terrorism were portrayed as mere background characters or else as villains, often associated with Francoism or with police forces that allegedly used excessive force against the Basque people. In contrast, terrorists were portrayed as romantic heroes fighting for freedom, as seen in films such as Operación Ogro (1979) and La fuga de Segovia (1981). lt was only from the early 21 st century, coinciding with a shift in the perception of terrorism in Spain and globally, that the roles of victims and terrorists began to swap in audiovisual fiction. ETA members started to be depicted as antiheroes, while the victims and their familias were portrayed as silent, everyday heroes enduring persecution. This can be seen as a normalization of heroism in the daily lives of victims, who, through audiovisual fiction, have become more visible in society. This transformation is evident in films such as Todos estamos invitados (2008) and El comensal (2022), as well as in series like La línea invisible (2020). From a methodological perspectiva of History and Cinema, this paper analyzes how the audiovisual representation of ETA terrorists and victims has evolved, focusing on how their roles have shifted between heroes and villains. 

Indigenous Story Literacies in Film: Place-based film analysis to activate audience participation in meaning-making

Indigenous coding of cultural knowledge suggests that filmmaking has been a natural evolution within the continuum of moʻolelo (successive story, history) and that film is a communicative mode that is rhetorically, aesthetically, and visually sovereign, accounting for Indigenous peoples’ demand for independence and self-determination. As a descendant of literature, new media productions address evolving perspectives and approaches to the representation of a culture, and in turn invites new interpretations of film components (Hawaiʻi International Conference on Film, Literature, and Culture CFP) ranging from redefinitions of character archetypes, such as iterations of a “hero” (Simpson, Dillon, Justice), to how meaning and knowledge is created, or often in the case of Indigenous cinema, co-created. Decolonial strategies in Hawaiʻi literature include the perpetuation of ancestral language, one’s service to community, and conscious politicizing of cultural activities (Trask), while other strategies draw from a copus of literary tradition within and beyond Hawaiʻi, such as meiwi (Kimura, hoʻomanawanui), kaona-connectivity (Mcdougall), moʻokūʻauhau consciousness (Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu), and wā/vā as narrative structure (Wendt, Te Awekotuku, Kameʻeleihiwa, Dillon, Somerville, Justice, Simpson). These strategies can be observed in contemporary productions –– in particular, E Mālama Pono, Willy Boy (2022) is a rich site of analysis that demonstrates how audiences are agents in the meaning-making process. Film analysis that descends from Indigenous literacies offers a model of engagement and production that retroactively cares for the viewers’ relationship to the world and each other, thereby empowering interpretations and discussions that are rooted in place and move beyond Hollywood grammars and ideologies.

Héroes errantes en las fronteras: El niño como sujeto fronterizo y su representación en la película Yo Capitán (2023), de Matteo Garrone

La intensificación de los flujos migratorios Globales y sus efectos se han convertido en tema de creación en las artes tanto verbal como audiovisual. Con este artículo investigamos el modo en que el cine se hace cargo de la representación de la figura del niño como héroe y sujeto fronterizo a partir de la película Yo Capitán, de Matteo Garrone. Al estilo de los relatos sobre héroes mitológicos, el director presenta el recorrido de los jóvenes africanos Moussa y Seydou quienes, soñando con mejores condiciones socioeconómicas para ellos y sus familias, abandonan su país y emprenden el arriesgado viaje hacia Europa, cruzando el Sahara y el Mediterráneo. El marco teórico de análisis retoma los conceptos de “Monomito” o “Viaje del Héroe” de Campbell (2013), el análisis del discurso fílmico de Casseti y Di Chio (2003), los borders studies y el border subject (Amilhat Szary y Girault 2015; Schimanski 2017, Schimanski y Nyman 2021) y la Necropolítica (Mbembe, 2011). Enfocamos, por una parte, la atención en la construcción del niño como (anti)héroe en la ruta migratoria, así como la representación de la frontera y los mecanismos de vulneración de los cuerpos migrantes en los espacios fronterizos. Por otra, destacamos el papel del cine como herramienta de comunicación y de transformación social que, en este caso, apunta a cuestionar las paradojas de la Globalización, nuestras democracias y la situación de los menores migrantes en las rutas migratorias y en los espacios fronterizos de nuestro mundo. (des)Globalizado.

Don Quijote and the lamentation of impermanence

This project explores the character of Don Quijote in Miguel de Cervantes’ famous novel, focusing on his emotional and personal character and understanding his actions as manifestations of said emotional core, following an Aristotelian framework. The central argument contends that Don Quijote’s narrative arc serves as an allegorical lamentation of three interconnected tragedies: the transient nature of all human endeavors, the difficulty of leaving a lasting positive impact on the world, and to a lesser extent, the challenge of embodying the “best version” of oneself while still having to periodically reinvent oneself. While Don Quijote strives to live according to lofty ideals of pure virtue, his efforts are thwarted by the impermanence of the world and the inability to translate his noble intentions into tangible change. The analysis further explores the tension between Quijote’s sincere desire for goodness and the reality of his actions, which are sometimes driven by pride, delusion, and a disconnect from the world around him. Through a close reading of the novel and engagement with secondary academic sources, this project highlights how Don Quijote’s character arc reflects the human struggle to reconcile the apparently undying nature of human ideals with the reality of decay and eventual death. Ultimately, the project argues that the protagonist’s journey is a thorough and lucid yet ultimately tender and understanding meditation on the impossibility of achieving an idealized self in a flawed world, reflecting humanity’s existential concerns about the fleeting nature of life and the difficulty of making a difference.

A Band of Brothers in the Andes: Society of the Snow by J. A. Bayona

This study examines how the film Society of the Snow (Bayona, 2024) reconfigures the perspective established by Alive! (Marshall, 1993), a widely acclaimed earlier film based on the events of the 1972 “Tragedy of the Andes,” and actively engages in the demythologization of the narrative. Departing from the traditional model of survival heroism exemplified in Alive!, Bayona’s film instead embraces a post-heroic narrative framework. One of its most distinctive features is the redistribution of narrative weight across multiple characters, constructing a choral portrait that foregrounds collective heroism. Adversity is confronted through cooperation, mutual support, and shared survival strategies. Furthermore, the film does not shy away from depicting the vulnerability, fear, and despair experienced by the survivors. Even the narrator's voice subverts the conventional logic of the “victorious hero,” as it belongs to a character who did not survive and embodies an ultimate state of fragility. In keeping with other post-heroic narratives, Society of the Snow adopts a decentralized storytelling approach. Rather than following a linear trajectory toward a triumphant resolution, the film highlights the daily struggle for survival, the physical and psychological deterioration of the characters, and the temporal suspension induced by extreme endurance. These elements not only render the historical events more accessible to contemporary audiences but also provide a representation that is more faithful to the lived experience of the tragedy.

Los héroes en el jardín de la Isla. 

La ponencia presenta a través de un análisis de la obra de teatro Jardín de héroes (2009), de Yerandy Fleites (Cuba, 1982) una reescritura de la memoria histórica cubana. Desde una estética que pertenece a la generación de Los novísimos. La pieza deconstruye la referencia al teatro clásico y presenta un paralelismo con la realidad de la isla, donde los personajes son construidos a partir de la perspectiva del arquetipo jungniano. 

La investigación toma como punto de partida la problemática de la memoria para usarla como plataforma que puede mutar constantemente. En esta fractura de la memoria, los dramaturgos jóvenes proponen nuevos pliegues en la escritura de la Historia nacional para detonar una conversación sobre la identidad, la Historia y sus múltiples versiones. En esta polémica sobre “el paradigma histórico” los personajes del texto pertenecen a la genealogía de la cultura clásica, sin embargo, discursan sobre/desde una realidad cubana, reconfigurando la perspectiva de lo heroico desde una visión isleña.

The non-hero’s Journey

The emerging concept of "neo-heroism" in contemporary works illustrates a refined comprehension of heroism, shifting from the idea of the extraordinary individual to a more inclusive and contextual portrayal (Klapp, 1948).

The recent increase in films and television series that explore historical events, traumas, and real-life figures illustrates this shift in perspective. Biopics such as Elvis & Nixon and Malcolm X, alongside adaptations of esteemed literary works like The Count of Monte Cristo and Anne with an E, as well as remakes of novels, comics, and video games exemplified by Borderland, illustrate a diverse range of heroic narratives that interrogate conventional notions of heroism (Ventola, 2021).

This paper examines two disparate films, differing significantly in time, geography, and style: John Boorman’s largely overlooked 1972 American film, Deliverance, and Constantin Popescu Jr.’s 2010 production from the New Romanian Cinema, The Portrait of the Fighter as a Young Man. Both films depict “journeys of non-heroes.” This proposal examines the revision of the “Hero’s Journey” paradigm, as the prototype of the Hero is either inadequate (Bormann) or absent (Popescu). 

This analysis emphasises the manifestation of the “post-heroic” condition in the two films, which adopt a fundamentally different approach to the traditional heroic narrative (Georgescu, 2012).

In conclusion, I am re-examining the theory of the “Hero’s Journey” narrative paradigm, positing that as the concept of the Hero is deconstructed, narrative theories should likewise be scrutinised in this context. 

Key words: NCR, Hero’s Journey, Post-Heroic, Non-Hero, Existentialism.

Los mitos vascos: La construcción histórica-literaria del Norte de España

Los orígenes vascos comienzan con la publicación de la obra la Historia Dos Linages, un libro escrito en portugués por el rey Dinis, el Conde de Barcelos, que se esconde, por motivos políticos, en la corte del Conde de Haro, en Vizcaya. Parece que el hijo de Dinis no tenía mucho que hacer en estos territorios y comienza a escribir un texto sobre el linaje de los vascos y principalmente del Conde de Haro, aunque en lengua portuguesa. Tras esto, el hijo del Rey Denis escribe sobre el personaje más importante de las vascongadas, que es como se llamaba ese territorio en estos momentos. Entonces, para escribir este libro busca información, se documenta o lee y se acaba encontrando con una leyenda del conde de Poitier. Esta leyenda era la de la dama pata de cabra o La Meleusina. Tras esto, el conde de Poitiers (al igual que el conde Haro), estaba un día cazando e iba con su cuñado. El conde arroja su lanza contra un venado que estaba por allí y atraviesa a su cuñado, que muere acto seguido. El conde está pesaroso y se pone a llorar y a maldecir de su mala suerte. En el lago se encuentra con una dama con gran belleza, que lo consuela. Entonces, el conde de Haro cae rendido a sus pies y le ofrece matrimonio sin reparar que uno de los pies de la dama era una pata de cabra, símbolo del demonio.

War-Film Heroes in the Pacific: Tragedy and Epic in the Shaping of Memories from the Day of Infamy to the Surrender of Japan

Since the Second World War the representation of heroes in war films has undergone many transformations. One of the most significant changes relates to the effects of trauma and how the political powers (in particular, the government) understood the mission of during the Cold War and subsequent conflicts. In particular, the War in the Pacific has been interpreted from diverse angles and stories. Some examples like The Battle of Midway (Ford, 1942), Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen (Yamamoto, 1942), Objective, Burma! (Walsh, 1945), From Here to Eternity (Zinnemann, 1953), Tora! Tora! Tora! (Fleischer, Fukasaku, Masuda, 1970), Grave of Fireflies (Takahata, 1989), Pearl Harbor (Bay, 2001), Letters from Iwo Jima (Eastwood, 2006), Hacksaw Ridge (Gibson, 2016), Midway (Emmerich, 2019) or the recent reflection with Oppenheimer (Nolan, 2023) show a narrative arc ranging from an epic-propagandistic view to a tragic and critical representation that projects an ambiguous image of heroism. Public opinion provides a narrative frame that affects the way society accepts and supports war actions and soldiers’ behaviors. This kind of unstable interpretation also modifies the culture which is reflected in movie and television representations. The Army also needs to adapt to this new ecosystem where national security is hardly threatened.

In this paper I focus on war-film heroes of Pearl Harbor and warfare in the Pacific during World War II. I intend to analyze the rhetorical strategies used to reconstruct and represent the dignity of enlisted men as heroes by considering the roles they played before going to war: son, brother, husband and neighbor. I find that coupled with pacifist discourse, the conscience of the hero becomes eternal as an aporia or tragic narrative that shows the facts without offering a solution. I conclude that the gap between the recognition of heroic will, patriotism and society has grown so wide that perhaps reconciliation is too distant a goal to reach.

From medieval to postmodern: the case of the hero archetype in the tradition of the Beowulf myth 

The following presentation aims to understand the transformation of the heroic archetype in two major cultural shifts of Western history. For this end, it studies the case of the Beowulf myth. 

In the first shift, the pagan Germanic tribes’ ideal of heroism, with its specific focus on war and honor, began to be transformed by the Anglo-Saxons’ conversion to Christianity. Such a transformation is made manifest in the blending of Germanic and Christian traditions found in the Old English poem Beowulf. A close reading of the text, as well as a strong grounding in insights from comparative religion and anthropology, reveals this intertwining of cultural horizons. 

Centuries later, Christianity’s loss of cultural influence due to secularization and the coinciding rise of late modernity resulted in a second shift, which had drastic implications for the conception of heroism. This posterior change correlates with the way the Beowulf story is reinterpreted by contemporary authors. This is particularly evident in the 2007 film adaptation of the poem, directed by Robert Zemeckis and scripted by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary. By analyzing this case closely, it is possible to find in it a postmodern critique of both the Christian and Germanic understanding of heroism, undermining not only the values of the previous shift, but also the archetype itself.

Thus, with the aid of a framework informed by semiotics and structuralist textual criticism, this comparative study shows that in postmodernity the ‘hero’ archetype, at least in the Beowulf myth, is no longer presented as tenable. 

Special Session

Filming in the Pacific

Moana and the Sea: Comparing Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea and Disney’s Animated Feature, Moana

A comparison between the novel The Old Man and the Sea and Disney’s animated feature film Moana (the original) has the potential to illuminate the transformation of the heroic from the male to the female as well as from the old to the young, writ large, making such a shift today the rule rather than the exception. Both are classic works of fiction, informed by lived realities and real cultures. Both focus on the sea: the former is a challenge against elements underneath the surface while the latter is a challenge against elements above the surface. Both works also illustrate the transfer of the heroic from the male to the female as well as from the old to the young, a global phenomenon that begs the question: is this a passing fad?

My presentation hopes to open up a conversation about heroic shifts in film, literary studies, and cultural studies that may or may not mirror what is happening in the real life all over the world.

Men can be Objects too!: Crafting the Female Gaze alongside Bridgerton Season 2

In contrasting the male gaze, conceptions surrounding the female gaze often debate feminine gendered-based pleasure without addressing Mulvey’s considerations for masculine gendered-based violence due to intentional significations crafted in film. This paper addresses an inverse of Mulvey’s male gaze by analyzing men's objectification within filmography within mediums targeted towards a straight female audience. This paper breaks down how the traditional male “action hero or Western protagonist’s” body is just as socially constructed as the female body and carries noteworthy implications to visual pleasure continuing ideologies of pleasure instead of destroying them like Mulvey’s original intent.

Keynote Address

The Right Heroes: Historical Worldbuilding in the Illiberal Semi-Peripheries

The global media economy’s mobility and flexibility derives from an underlying supply-chain logic that serves large multinational companies such as Netflix, Disney and Amazon, and relegates peripheral locations to be service providers. I am interested in permanent semi-peripheries such as the eastern and southern border states of the European Union, whose emergence as global service media industry hubs has gone together with a shift towards right-wing, populist nationalisms. In particular, Hungary, under long-term Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has become both the largest service media production center on the continent and a laboratory for illiberal nationalism. My talk investigates how economic peripherality on the global stage and illiberal populism on the domestic stage is managed in recent state investment in historical film and television, and how it is embodied by heroic figures who unite patriotic values of the past with entrepreneurial skills of the present.

Re-presenting the Hero: The Anti-hero as social carriers of ideology in South African Anglo-Boer War drama series 

During the South African Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), the Boer republics waged a war for freedom and independence from the British Empire. Decades later, the popular memory of this war became the cornerstone of the Afrikaner’s national identity. Therefore, most South African period piece films produced between the 1940s and the 1990s championed the Boer protagonists as willing heroes who are self-motivated and committed to the adventure. The apartheid government subsidised these films to remind white audiences of their ancestors’ suffering during this war. This occurred when the anti-apartheid movement made inroads abroad to contest the white nationalist government’s rule. In contrast to these old South African Anglo-Boer War films, drama series produced in post-apartheid society depict the Boer characters as anti-heroes and tragic heroes who succumb to their inner demons. In this paper, I will discuss the many facets of the Boer anti-heroes as depicted in three drama series: Arende (Eagles, 1992), Feast of the Uninvited (2008), and Donkerland (Dark Country, 2013). I will do a close textual analysis of these series and reflect on my observations during interviews that I will conduct with the creators of these three case studies. The writers’ and directors’ views of identity and the ideologies I have found within the narrativas will form the base of my discussion. Finally, I will comment on how this depiction starkly contrasts previously held beliefs about the Boers, and how memory is now “addressed in a society attempting to come to terms with a recent unsettling past.”

Más allá del heroísmo, representaciones actuales en el manga

Los mangas Frieren y Dungeon Meshi nos otorgan una visión del manga fantástico que va más allá del clásico camino del héroe, para darnos una visión que puede describirse como cotidiana e incluso cercana. Lo que nos permite plantearnos otras formas de entender el heroísmo. 

En el siguiente estudio hacemos un análisis tanto gráfico como del discurso, para observar las formas y los símbolos con los que estos mangas crean una reflexión moderna sobre el sentido del heroísmo y de la vida misma.

Esto, con el objetivo de entender cómo a través de una narración fantástica moderna se ponen de relieve otros factores de la identidad humana.

A través de fantásticos paisajes e historias sobre personajes que podrían parecer comunes, analizaremos las actuales transformaciones y temáticas en el género medieval fantástico enfocado a las aventuras de calabozos.

Retelling evilness: Disney’s Anti-Heroines from Classic Animation to Live Action 

For approximately a decade, Disney has found in remakes a highly profitable way to exploit its classic audiovisual productions. However, as some authors point out (Rowe, Stephenson), many of the latest films can be categorized as retellings rather than remakes. The main change lies in the shift of protagonist focalization. The main character is no longer the princess or the classic hero but, in some cases, those characters who, in the animated versions, occupied the role or sphere of the aggressor-according to Propp’s classification —or villains, in the more common terminology. The objective of this study is to clarify whether this shift in focus merely represents an inversion of the classic hero-villain categories or, alternatively, entails a substantial modification of the diegetic universe and its moral perspective. To this end, various case studies will be examined, such as Sleeping Beauty-Maleficent and 101 Dalmatians-Cruella. This presentation seeks to continue the ongoing doctoral research, which examines the archetypes of Disney Animation inherited from fairy tales and the changes they undergo in the postmodern context.

Harley Quinn and the Monomyth: going back over the heroine’s path

Since her first television appearance in 1992, the character of Harley Quinn has evolved from a feminine, mocking sidekick, akin to Robin, into a provocative, sociopathic, sexually liberated, autonomous entity with both destructive and self-destructive tendencies. 

This vital evolution, visible in her physical transformation, diverges significantly from the Monomyth, establishing her unique arc character construction as a radical subversion. Harley Quinn’s final cinematic appearance in The Joker 2 represents the culmination of this progress, departing from several stages outlined by Joseph Campbell. 

The principal purpose of this paper is to compare the trajectory of the television and cinematic Harley Quinn with the steps established by Campbell in his narrative template of the Hero’s Journey and to position her within the culture and literature on the anti-hero.

¿Cuándo es un héroe un héroe? Empatía y carisma en la lectura literaria y su importancia para la recepción del héroe

A través de la mundialmente famosa novela de Anna Seghers La séptima cruz, se explorarán las siguientes preguntas: ¿Cómo se define la relación entre la figura heroica y el público? ¿Se trata de una posición de espectador neutral, una aceptación reacia, admiración o incluso veneración? La autora describe la historia de un prisionero que logra escapar de un campo de concentración con la ayuda de personas y su compasión. Muestra cómo las personas bajo presión pueden convertirse tanto en héroes como en traidores, y explora las razones de sus acciones. La relación entre la figura heroica y su entorno social se desarrolla, por lo tanto, como una interacción entre la extraordinaria naturaleza del individuo y el orden o normalidad del grupo social en cuestión. Los héroes logran lo extraordinario y, por lo tanto, ocupan una posición destacada en la sociedad. La generación de empatía en el lector plantea la cuestión de los límites de la empatía y la alteridad en la comprensión literaria. Así como los héroes no existen sin historias, tampoco existen sin público, por lo que cada figura heroica requiere una comunidad de interpretación. Un héroe necesita al menos la voluntad de aceptación, si no admiración o veneración. Por lo tanto, los procesos cognitivos y afectivos se combinan cuando uno simpatiza con un personaje y reflexiona sobre su comportamiento, sobre las razones de sus acciones, para permitir la empatía. Así, el lector también se considera un héroe y la lectura como un viaje heroico.

The Multiple Perspectives of Heroism in Juan of the Dead (2010)

The classic American horror films have become landmarks in film history for their fear-mongering and powerful social criticism. 

Decades later, parodies of these films were also made (e.g. Shaun of the Dead), and in the 21st century, a Spanish-Cuban co-production created a special and unique blend of these works: Juan of the Dead (2010) is essentially a Hispanic parody of zombie films, but it presents the theme in a geographical, social and political context that is completely different from the previous ones.

The aim of my paper is to show how Alejandro Brugués’ film uses the tools of zombie films with a heroic approach, while at the same time serving as a prominent social and political satire of Cuba as the setting for the plot. The main character, Juan, becomes a classic but also a redefined hero for 21st century Cuba: according to Cuban propaganda, he is trying to save the country from the imperialist zombies, but on another level he could be the person who saves Cuban society from the tragic, permanent social and political circumstances. As a result, the seemingly frightening events on the island also highlight the contradictions of a situation that has remained almost unchanged for decades, showing that in socialist Cuba, even what its government calls an “imperialist zombie invasion” cannot take place as we have come to expect in other films.

The Legacy of Jean-Marie Tjibaou and the Reconstruction of an Inclusive New Caledonia Today

Jean-Marie Tjibaou, was a central political and cultural player in the revival of Kanak identity in the 1970’s and 1980’s until his political assassination. Today New Caledonia is yet again facing a deep political crisis in which the lack of recognition of otherness and social inequalities represent a serious risk to the sociopolitical cohesion of this fragile multiethnic and multicultural society. In order to avoid self- destructive conflicts and to build harmony in the midst of ethnic diversity, an endogenous inclusive redefinition of cultural identities has become necessary. This deep social crisis is not new, it already happened in the 1980's and it is resurfacing today in the form of a near civil war. In view of this challenge, how can the legacy of Jean- Marie Tjibaou help us towards an inclusive New Caledonia?

Charting the Heroics of Place in Film and Tourism: Risk, Adventure and Survival in the Argentine Andes

Historically, the Andes of Mendoza, Argentina, have been imbued with mythic and heroic qualities by native communities living in its shadows and transnational endeavors of revolution, exploration, capitalism, and adventure. This mountain zone bore witness to Incan incursions and an epic crossing by San Martín’s revolutionary forces. Here is the highest peak outside the Himalayas, a drawing card for early European mountaineers, and a seemingly insurmountable challenge for the incipient aviation industry of trans-Andean mail flights (1920s). Today, this area is highly recognized as the site of the Uruguayan plane crash in 1972, where a rugby team struggled to survive.

Cinema’s take on the history of aviation in this region, Night Flight (Brown, 1933) and Wings of Courage (Annaud, 1995), that depict the inauguration of flight across the Andes, and Society of the Snow (Bayona, 2023) that recounts the Uruguayan tragedy, map the zone along a spectrum from heroic adventure to post-heroic endurance. This paper analyzes their portrayal of the interplay between risk, heroism, and survival using Freedgood’s conceptualization of risk as adventure and modern geographical construct, controlled in distant places by heroic gestures.

I contend that the adventure tourism excursions to the Uruguayan crash site, representative of the post-heroic collective space of survival, draw from the entire heroic-post-heroic spectrum seen across the three films. Agencies conduct the expeditions materially and imaginatively in the mountain zone depicted on screen, and, as in the films, it is the performance of risk, rather than the experience of it, that defines the heroic.

La representación heroica del presidente de Estados Unidos como personaje real o ficticio en películas y series de televisión (1930-2024)

En Estados Unidos, el concepto de sociedad ideal ha estado muy ligado desde siempre a la noción de sueño americano, y se refiere a la igualdad de oportunidades y a la libertad cuyos conceptos desarrollaron y redactaron en la Declaración de Independencia de 1776 los Padres Fundadores, descendientes de los colonos ingleses de ultramar, que se alzaron contra los abusos de poder de su propia monarquía. Desde entonces, quedó establecido un vínculo muy fuerte entre los fundadores del país (cuatro de los cuales llegaron a ser presidentes) y sus habitantes, que consideraron la figura del presidente de la nación como un líder cuyo ejemplo debía inspirar la vida de sus ciudadanos. Como argumentan Sánchez-Escalonilla y Rodríguez Mateos, “los norteamericanos pueden ser descritos como emocionalmente presidencialistas ya que casi todos sus héroes políticos del pasado son presidentes. El cariño que profesa la sociedad a la presidencia procede de su fuerza para liderar.” A partir del estudio de películas y series de televisión protagonizadas por presidentes de Estados Unidos, ficticios y reales, se va realizar un análisis de la evolución del término heroico de dichos personajes, en base a la consideración que cada generación ha otorgado a sus máximos mandatarios según los distintos periodos históricos en los que se llevaron a cabo las producciones audiovisuales. El comportamiento heroico de un presidente vendrá determinado por la capacidad para liderar el país ante problemas o amenazas, bien sean de origen interno o externo, atendiendo a las categorías de liderazgo presidencial elaboradas por Greenstein.

Keynote Address

Heroes and Heroines Across Time: From Myth to Science Fiction

This presentation explores the evolving figure of the hero and heroine across literary and cinematic traditions—from ancient myth to science fiction. It traces how heroic narratives reflect cultural values, ethical tensions, and historical transformations.

Drawing on examples from global mythology, fantasy, realism, and SF, the talk examines heroism as a mirror of each era’s fears and ideals. Figures like Theseus and Māui contrast with antiheroes such as Don Quixote and posthuman protagonists like Neo. Heroines—including Ariadne, Pocahontas, and Clarice Starling—redefine heroism through endurance, care, and moral clarity. Realist narratives shift heroism from conquest to conscience, while science fiction reimagines it amid technology, code, and manipulation.

From the epic to the everyday, heroism is no longer tied to spectacle but often unfolds in silence—grounded in resistance, compassion, and the will to act ethically in uncertain worlds.

La venganza ya no es sinónimo de redención: Un paralelismo entre Clint Eastwood y Tim Gautreaux

El punto de partida del viaje del héroe cobra vida en forma de un conflicto externo (asesinato, robo, maltrato, secuestro ...) que puede resolver el héroe de distintas maneras y en la mayoría de las ocasiones termina con la condena o muerte del villano. En la actualidad, en su viaje, si bien el héroe debe enfrentarse a un conflicto exterior, este no es más que el reflejo de un conflicto interior que interpela al personaje de una manera más profunda. 

En esta ponencia, se aspira a proponer un paralelismo entre los protagonistas de dos obras, una cinematográfica y otra literaria, para identificar los rasgos que ambos comparten. El primero es Walt Kowalski, protagonista del largometraje Gran Torino, dirigido en 2008 por Clint Eastwood, un jubilado americano que afronta una etapa de su vida repleta de conflictos culturales y generacionales; y el segundo es Sam Simoneaux, el protagonista de la última novela del escritor americano Tim Gautreaux, Desaparecidos, publicada en 2009, un vigilante que para recuperar su trabajo debe encontrar a una niña que es secuestrada durante su turno. 

En ambos casos, la resolución del conflicto externo ayuda a la resolución del conflicto interno, al mismo tiempo que tanto la película como la novela proponen un final alternativo al desenlace clásico. De alguna manera el mensaje que proponen es que la venganza ya no es sinónimo de redención.

Ambivalences around heroism in the filmography of German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

The purpose of this paper is to answer the following research question: Can the filmography of German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (1973–), and more specifically his treatment of political ideologies, be understood as a scenario in which notable heroism in specific individuals coexists with generalized villainy on the part of representatives of authoritarian political power?

To answer this research question, I have sought to delineate the scope and limits of the virtues of heroic societies, according to Alasdair MacIntyre’s moral philosophy. Subsequently, I examine the most relevant aspects of von Donnersmarck’s three most notable films: The Lives of Others (2006), The Tourist (2010), and Never Look Away (2018). Finally, I attempt to identify a significant number of elements associated with heroic societies, as defined by MacIntyre, within the scripts of these films. This analysis leads to a deeper exploration of the ambivalences surrounding heroism in Henckel von Donnersmarck’s filmography.

Weapons of Mass Disruption: Reclaiming heroism in contemporary conspiracy films (and other narratives)

Mainstream conspiracy film, where it once was a record of heroism against corruption and abuse of power or a call to arms against rising public fears, is now drowned out by a conspiracy culture of paranoia, post-truth, and partisan hostility which has infiltrated our politics, entertainment, and public spheres.

Exhausted after decades of self-centered privatisation and enfeebled by growing disillusionment with its traditional pillars of justice, the conspiracy genre is at risk of losing the political force it once possessed. 

This paper presents a structured examination of three core elements in the genre (The Behemoth, Mechanisms for Justice, and The Protagonist) and posits that the impotent heroism observed in mainstream conspiracy films since the early 2000s is largely due to a disconnect where (1) modern behemothic presences have yet to be addressed, (2) altruistic motivations of protagonists/heroes no longer align with modern cynicism, and (3) that traditional mechanisms for justice are still being applied when they have proven compromised in real life.

I contextualise and update these three elements within our current conspiracy/information-saturated culture, examine their representation in modern conspiracy films, and identify new approaches for the genre and beyond to remain relevant in the 21st century.

Special Guest Speaker

In Depth with Hollywood Director, Jim McBride

The Heroic Modernist as Idoc: A transmedia evolution combining biographical components of documentary with the experimental outcomes of gallery exhibition to create an interactive digital archive of Australian poet and author Ronald McCuaig.

Ronald McCuaig’s collection Vaudeville was significant in Australian literary history, but the content and characters were initially considered too controversial for publishers. With notoriety attached to the verse seven Sydney printers refused to print his first collection for fear of prosecution so he physically printed the work himself, a limited edition that is still sometimes available online. It captured the imagination of critics and the public alike and would later see Ronald McCuaig described as Australia's first modern poet.

The characters in the poems are mostly women, depicted in commonly shrouded urban settings, the resignation in the eyes of a street prostitute painted as ‘beslimed stagnating poolsñ’ and the scene of a woman trapped in domestic abuse culminating in her ‘meditated rape.’ Using methodologies of archiveology and videopoetry the collection has been re-versioned collaborating with an Australian hip hop artist, actors, and the Sydney Chamber Choir.

The linear documentary environment gave way to an exhibition that housed original publications, documentary segments, and a separate room for the videopotery. More recently using the software Klynt, I have curated the work into an interactive documentary space where audiences can view aspects of the poet’s creative output, presenting his life and career.

Heroínas por la justicia y la libertad: activismo feminista durante la Transición española en Las buenas compañías (Silvia Munt, 2023)

En la tradición clásica, el héroe a menudo era un guerrero que realizaba hazañas excepcionales y enfrentaba desafíos extraordinarios. En el pensamiento contemporáneo, la figura ha evolucionado para mostrar personajes más humanos y diversos, con defectos y luchas internas. En este contexto, la heroína ha sido objeto de reflexión específica, destacando a mujeres que desafían las expectativas sociales para alcanzar autonomía y libertad, como señaló Simone de Beauvoir en Le Deuxième Sexe (1949). Para Carol Gilligan en In a Different Voice (1982), no necesita ser una figura de acción, sino alguien que enfrenta las dificultades de la vida, demostrando valentía a través de la solidaridad.

Estas mujeres comunes con una resiliencia excepcional en su vida cotidiana es el perfil heroico que protagoniza la película hispanofrancesa Las buenas compañías (Silvia Munt, 2023). Hasta la despenalización del aborto en 1985, decenas de mujeres morían en España cada año al someterse a intervenciones clandestinas mientras que otras cruzaban la frontera a Francia. Munt recupera la historia real de un grupo de mujeres que, durante la Transición, lucharon para visibilizar la causa feminista, cambiar la ley sobre aborto y reclamar amnistía para “las 11 de Basauri,” mujeres de clase obrera procesadas por aborto. El filme es un homenaje a las mujeres que arriesgaron todo para defender los derechos reproductivos, mostrando el compromiso y la sororidad de esas heroínas que protagonizan el largometraje; trasciende el hecho cinematográfico para reflejar una época convulsa en la que las mujeres se enfrentaban a grandes riesgos y dificultades.

I am Big, It’s the Pictures That Got Small: The Cinema Star as Antihero

Along the history of cinema, there has been a series of films aiming to portray the backstage of cinema, which usually contrasts with the external glamorous aura that surrounds the star system. Drawing on metafiction, films which depict the world of cinema-and thus, turn into films about filmmaking-focusing on diverse subjects who take part in the process, from actors to directors, tend to show the less dazzling aspects of showbusiness, in which actors often face decline as they come of age, and directors become ostracised once they have fallen out of favour in the film industry. 

From classics like Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Vincente Minnelli’s The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) to contemporary films such as Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994) and Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist (2011), pictures have drawn attention to the archetype of the antihero in cinema, as a paradoxical role whereby cinema stars may end up being unjustly forgotten, rejected or banished from the screen. By means of the theoretical framework of performance and celebrity studies, this paper aims to analyse the figure of the cinema star as antihero and the discourses prevailing in show business, which may prompt the rise and fall of celebrities. In this respect, discourses like age and gender are considered to exert significant influence on actors, although political issues, or even changes in the cinema industry and prejudices as regards some cinematic genres, may also have a negative effect on cinema directors.

Investigating identities in Young Adult Narratives 

Is the motif of “first time” events a central moment of writing and directing films for young audience? 

It’s also a perspective of children and young adults that allows one to tell stories of the world’s events. In film for children and young adults, you not only find all narrative forms, but you can also conclude that no subject is exempted for the audience. 

In this “genre of first times,” the protagonists’ view and perception of the adult world are new. Many things are experienced for the first time: your first kiss; the first death that you consciously deal with; a first understanding that your parents make mistakes; the first rebellion against the status quo. Above all, the overwhelming feelings for another person are addressed in this genre: a first love. 

In many cultures, entering the adult world is connected to initiation and heroe’s rites. Rituals and stories are filled with the poetic power of first big discoveries. 

Realizing an adolescent’s new gaze is a special challenge for authors and filmmakers. It demands a return to a certain innocence. At the same time, it indicates that the world can be questioned This gaze is also poetic, dramatic and naïve. 

All events are ordered into a system from the child’s own perspective. The impossibility of understanding some of life’s events is part of a process of growing up - a crisis, a heroe’s journey. In any case, it is always larger and more impressive than anything that has happened before.

Heroes and Heroines in the Mesoamerican Tradition

This presentation explores the roles of heroes and heroines in ancient Mesoamerica, with particular focus on Formative Olmec, Classic Maya, and Postclassic Aztec and Mixtec mythologies. These rich mythologies were filled with heroic figures who embodied Mesoamerican cultural ideals, including strength, sacrifice, intelligence and cunning. These figures often navigated challenges that reflected cosmic battles, the struggle between order and chaos, and the renewal of social order. Like most mythologies and creation stories, these stories had a double role: they entertained, of course, and at the same time they conveyed important messages about morality and proper social behavior, political legitimacy, and a wealth of religious concepts, including sacrifice, transformation and renewal, and the correct relationship between humans, animals, nature, and gods. Finally, I interpret these heroes as normative social creations with dual purposes: to model correct behavior for all social actors, albeit through the context of extraordinary circumstances, and to justify the hierarchical social order; after all, one can aim at heroic behavior, but only some with special attributes can succeed.

Make Hollywood Great Again: A Return to the Heroic Imagination in Donald Trump’s Second Presidency?

Donald Trump has appointed Mel Gibson, John Voight and Sylvester Stallone as “Special Ambassadors” to bring golden Hollywood back, “bigger, better and stronger than ever before,” he wrote on Truth Social. These adjectives apply to Sylvester Stallone’s career as an American cinematic hero. The actor was one of the most successful action figures during the eighties, and his image is attached to Reagan’s neoconservative presidency. Time has passed and his figure, along with action cinema itself, has faded in the context of 21st-century Hollywood, characterized by gigantic blockbusters aimed at global audiences. 

If Stallone was one of the most profitable figures of eighties commercial cinema, Michael Bay is one of the most profitable ones of the last three decades. The filmmaker is the sixth most profitable director in the history of cinema, according to The Numbers. He is, too, one of the last remnants of golden-age action cinema, primarily aimed at American audiences. Despite Bay’s success, Donald Trump does not appear to identify with his characters. Rather, he has established a long-lasting bond with Stallone. What does Stallone represent, that Trump cannot find in nowadays cinematic heroes? 

This paper aims to study the evolution of the cinematic hero. Through a qualitative analysis, I will study what characterizes Stallone’s heroism and that of Michael Bay’s cinema. The interpretative analysis will show the evolution from hypermasculinity to masculinity in crisis, and from heroism to post-heroism. Ultimately, Trump’s decision will be read as a nostalgic move to attempt to bring eighties Hollywood back.

The contraposition of Capra’s hero with McCarey’s antihero in the analysis of Wes D.Gehring’s comedy: a review of this proposal

Wes D. Gehring, professor at Ball State University, and one of the leading specialists in the work of Leo McCarey, argues that despite the mutual admiration and affinity between this director and his friend Frank Capra, there is a clear difference between the two. Especially in his films of the 1930s, McCarey’s hero is a character characterized by five notes: “Leisure,” “Non-Political,” “Frustration,” “Child” and “City.” For his part, Capra characterizes his characters with five other antagonistic notes: “Profession,” “Political,” “Success,” “Adult,” “Country.”

Gehring sees these differences diminishing from the 1940s onward. Both put their protagonists in situations they are unable to handle. This will reinforce the action of grace, the presence of God in their lives. In Capra very explicitly in It’s a Wonderful Life; in McCarey in Going My Way Bells of St. Mary’s and Good Sam. Gehring’s thesis is very attractive, but it has some drawbacks. We can point out three. In the first place, the time chosen. If we extend the sample to the 1920s, we will find that the boundary between Capra's hero and McCarey's antihero is more blurred. Secondly, in the McCarey of the thirties we already find a clear political component in Ruggles of Red Gap. Finally, both McCarey's and Capra's heroes acquire a growing communal, relational dimension. To the point that in many of his films heroism is the fruit of the mutual growth as persons of the protagonists thanks to the male/female complementarity, or explicitly between wives and husbands.

Characterisation - A Model for Workable Character Oppositions

Amateur filmmakers in 2025 create content with little experience or training. Even seasoned filmmakers prefer to have some assistance with character development. The researcher thus proposed the Genesis Characterisation Model to assist in creating characters. Characters are complex entities that need to be “born” and created similarly as creation has given life to humans. From the literature, an elaborate Genesis Characterisation Process (GCP) is proposed containing a biographical chart with OBSERVABLE CHARACTER elements, PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTER elements, TRUE CHARACTER elements as well as general CHARACTER ELEMENTS (flaws, ghost, needs, etc.) These ELEMENTS are plotted on the GCP Elements Table and assigned to Phase One. Phase Two introduces the GCP Opposition Cell in an integrated characterisation model. The CELL elements are analysed for TWO opposing characters and plotted according to their numerical moral values. In this phase, the opposition of the protagonists and antagonists will appear visually on a subsequent GCP Opposition Cell GRAPH. The TABLE culminating onto a CELL and into a GRAPH makes for a significant visual representation into a workable model where characters are created, compared, and altered. The model is applied to several characters in prominent South African films to show its effectiveness.

This paper claims that characterisation is initially the responsibility of scriptwriters. From there, it becomes a Genesis project where the producers, directors and actors weigh in on the process using the true character elements. When the GCP Model is followed, it makes the characterisation process easier, more fluent, and far clearer to the production team. 

Staging the Heroic: (Anti)Heros and National Archetypes in Hispanic Theatre and Cultural Memory

When literary and cultural studies discussions focus on the wars of conquest against the Mexica people lead by the conqueror Hernán Cortés and his Indigenous allies (particularly the Tlaxcalans), four primary and contested (anti)heroic figures frequently rise to the surface: the conqueror Cortés, Moctezuma and his short-lived successor, Cuauhtémoc, and the Indigenous polyglot interpreter Malinalli (Malintzin for the Mexica, doña Marina for the Spaniards, and Malinche for contemporary Mexicans).

Theatrical representations of Malinalli, particularly in the plays under consideration, reflect a multitude of historical and ideological shifts: from colonial/imperialistic lenses in Zárate’s work, to Mexican Romanticism and nationalistic perspectives in Ramírez’s and Chavero’s plays. Often labeled a traitor, a willing collaborator, or a victim, Malinalli negotiates on-stage issues of language communication, diplomacy, and allegiance.

This presentation examines how Malinalli is dramatized in three Hispanic stage plays: the Spanish comedia histórica, La conquista de México (1700) by Fernando de Zárate, and two Romantic period plays from Independent Mexico: La noche triste (1876) by Ignacio Ramírez, and Xóchitl (1877) by Alfredo Chavero. I examine how these plays engage with the idea of (anti)heroism, particularly in relation to gender, national identity, and political discourse. 

By tracing some of Malinalli’s evolving characterizations—from inguistic mediator to contested national symbol—I argue that her representations offer insights into shifting notions of the heroic in historical (fictional) narratives as well as in contemporary cultural memory debates.

The Mandalorian’s Way through Music: An Approach from Audiovisual Poetics

This study examines the narrative and rhetorical function of music in The Mandalorian series through the theoretical framework of Audiovisual Poetics. The research focuses on analyzing how the soundtrack articulates emotional and ethical meanings that transcend its merely ornamental role. It is argued that music operates as a fundamental rhetorical device that not only facilitates the immersion of the viewer and builds the psychology of the characters, but also contributes decisively to the dramatic unity of the work, acting as a cohesive element of the audiovisual narrative.

Harley Quinn and the Monomyth: going back over the heroine’s path

Since her first television appearance in 1992, the character of Harley Quinn has evolved from a feminine, mocking sidekick, akin to Robin, into a provocative, sociopathic, sexually liberated, autonomous entity with both destructive and self-destructive tendencies. 

This vital evolution, visible in her physical transformation, diverges significantly from the Monomyth, establishing her unique arc character construction as a radical subversion. Harley Quinn’s final cinematic appearance in The Joker 2 represents the culmination of this progress, departing from several stages outlined by Joseph Campbell. 

The principal purpose of this paper is to compare the trajectory of the television and cinematic Harley Quinn with the steps established by Campbell in his narrative template of the Hero’s Journey and to position her within the culture and literature on the anti-hero.

Lecture

My presentation would consider the nature of movie-inspired poems as a response to the particular movie and to movies in general. I would start with a consideration of such famous film-inspired poems as Hart Crane’s “Chaplinesque,” but my primary focus would be on my own movie poems written over the course of many years and published in two of my collections of poems, Imaginary Museum (1999) and Moving Pictures (2019). The twenty movie poems of mine published in those two books have addressed individual films in ways that endeavor to capture the essence of each film, while also rendering that essence as something that is other than the film itself. My poems engage with each film without sentimentality in order to render the life of the film as a life any of us might live. My poems are, because of the nature of the poetic form, necessarily post-heroic. Attendees with be given copies of the poems in a handout. My plan is to discuss the poems. I am not planning to perform them. (Alternatively, my presentation could be handled as a poetry reading interspersed with my comments on the poems). 

Heroic Aristocracy in Houellebecq’s Sérotonine 

Facing the portrait of Robert d’Harcourt, known as “the Strong,” the narrator of Sérotonine cannot help but comment: “I thought to myself that it still means something to have roots.” For the nobility, these roots fork in two paths: the first leads to the notion of lineage, of the long duration of the bloodline; but often overlooked, amidst the Parisian waltzes, the second path ties nobility to a fiefdom, links a great name to a land. Nobility is rooted in the soil, cultivating a rustic roughness, a countryside accent, and a closeness to the land from which it derives its origin, legitimacy, and sustenance. When the land is threatened, its defender emerges: Aymeric d’Harcourt-Olonde, a nobleman-farmer-rifle enthusiast (also moonlighting, in houellebecquian fashion, as a depressed alcoholic), fighting for his soil-his country, as it used to be called against disembodied supranational European institutions. The dramatic entrance of this Norman Chouan captain, who brightens the novel with his rebellion, allows Houellebecq, the 19th-century devotee, to reactivate the ancient discourse of the nobility and set it against the relentless crushing tide of individualist globalization-a pollution that undermines the very foundations of modern society. 

The ambiguous heroism of Aymeric’s ultimate sacrifice will be at the heart of this discussion as Michel Houellebecq once again blurs the lines: by rebelling in the name of the land, the noble peasant incurs heaven’s wrath. 

La condición heroica de Karen Blixen en las obras audiovisuales Karen, Pagten y Drømmeren. Un caso de estudio del biopic literario

Entre 2020 y 2022, la vida de la escritora danesa Karen Blixen (1885-1962) ha sido narrada en el formato audiovisual en tres ocasiones. El biopic experimental español Karen, la película danesa Pagten y la serie de televisión danesa Drømmeren abordan su vida desde diferentes perspectivas: los últimos años en la granja en África, el regreso a su casa familiar en Rungstedlund y su relación de posguerra con el joven poeta Thorkild.

Esta comunicación examina cómo estas tres obras emiten diferentes juicios acerca de la condición heroica o antiheroica de Karen Blixen, según el período de vida narrado, su conflicto dramático y su relación con los otros personajes. También se estudia si cada obra se ajusta a las convenciones narrativas y estilísticas del biopic literario convencional, haciéndolo desde la perspectiva del estudio de los biopics, concretamente de la subcategoría de los biopics literarios. Según el período de la vida de la escritora que se narre, se puede observar si la trama exige más o menos contenido poético y literario. Además, en relación con la finalidad narrativa, la puesta en escena y la imagen fílmica pueden ejercer una función simbólica que remarque la pretensión mitificadora o desmitificadora del personaje.

Harley Quinn and the Monomyth: going back over the heroine’s path

Since her first television appearance in 1992, the character of Harley Quinn has evolved from a feminine, mocking sidekick, akin to Robin, into a provocative, sociopathic, sexually liberated, autonomous entity with both destructive and self-destructive tendencies. 

This vital evolution, visible in her physical transformation, diverges significantly from the Monomyth, establishing her unique arc character construction as a radical subversion. Harley Quinn’s final cinematic appearance in The Joker 2 represents the culmination of this progress, departing from several stages outlined by Joseph Campbell. 

The principal purpose of this paper is to compare the trajectory of the television and cinematic Harley Quinn with the steps established by Campbell in his narrative template of the Hero’s Journey and to position her within the culture and literature on the anti-hero.