Cinematic Adaptations as a (Possible) Pedagogical Tool

Abstract

Just like the House of Habsburg, the teaching of the Spanish Golden Age appears to be in perpetual decline. Rather than bemoaning this state of affairs, I would like to suggest that it is our collective responsibility to look for solutions in the context of a post-literary culture in which, to use the words of Robert Rosenstone [2006:4], the «desire to express our relationship to the past by using contemporary forms of expression, as well as the desire to appeal to a contemporary sensibility, sooner of later has to point us in the direction of the visual media». In the first part, I will sketch a history of how Golden Age works have been taught in primary and secondary schools in Spain to suggest that the education system as well as television and cinematic adaptations from the Franco period have generated a series of prejudices as regards the national theatre. This will pave the way in the second section for an analysis of the possibilities harboured in audio-visual production to safeguard the presence of Spanish classical theatre as a cornerstone of a holistic democratic education at different levels both at home and abroad. My hope is that the implementation of audio-visual media functions as a means for bringing Golden Age plays alive for students and, at the same time, stimulating their critical thinking and opportunities for the development of transferable skills.