- Research Article
- 10.1080/24741604.2025.2513709
Tough Love: Violence and Revenge in Contemporary Spanish Romantic Comedy
- Jul 03, 2025
- Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies
- Matthew Hilborn
This article analyses the trend of violent romantic comedies in Spain that, following the nation’s economic crisis (loosely 2008–2017), swap adoration for marital discord and divorce. Unlike screwball ‘comedies of remarriage’, the gallows humour of Miamor perdido (Emilio Martínez-Lázaro, 2018), Bajo el mismo techo (Juana Macías, 2019) and Mamá o papá (Dani de la Orden, 2021) defers reconciliation through rampant physical and emotional cruelty, challenging traditional genre and gender dynamics. Analysing casting, marketing, mise-en-scène and narrative structure, the study interrogates the limits of sadism within romcom and identifies an ambivalent ‘Schrödinger’s love’ of simultaneous sincerity and falsity.
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