Capital Subjects: Redefining Capitality in Global Films on Barcelona

Abstract

This chapter explores the construction of a global Barcelona gaze; that is, of a look at the city constructed as a result of the global awareness of the brand, a gaze that in turn helped to perpetuate the city brand’s world purchase. We consider here how the brand is globally perceived as favoring, as producing, as encouraging, and as enriching particular modes of living, and therefore a particular kind of subject able to take advantage of and enjoy the experience. All of which is offered as a promise to the potential visitor, in the understanding that such results could not have been produced in their home cities, endowing Barcelona as a result with the means of producing a particular kind of life experience unviable for subjects elsewhere, and defining in this way the city’s qualitative advantage. We tackle the issue through the analysis of two well-known films set in Barcelona that have confirmed and reinforced a global image for the city by enjoying excellent global distribution, and good box office revenues, plus no little academic attention: Cédric Klapish’s L’auberge espagnole (issued in English in various countries as Pot Luck or The Spanish Apartment) (2002) and Woody Allen’s Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona (2008).