Filmic gendered discourses in rural contexts: The case of the Camino De Santiago (Spain)

Abstract

Rural areas have turned into multifunctional areas. They satisfy different economic and social requirements; among these, they are consolidating their position as film production locations. Becoming a film location ensures visibility and provides new forms to access sustainable economic trajectories to promoting rural areas and rural vitality. In some cases, filmic discourses present unequal gender treatment that may be associated with their locations. Considering this, the aim of this research was to explore cinematic discourses based on the symmetry or asymmetry in gendered cinematic representations that mainly occur in the rural space of the Camino de Santiago (Spain). This First European Cultural route crosses urban and rural centers that have benefited in different ways from its international recognition. By combining both the linguistic and visual codes, I engaged in a qualitative film discourse analysis concerning female pilgrims along the route. Despite of the feminization of the Camino, the results prove the permanence of gendered norms and societal roles in audio-visual productions based on a common latent ideology. The conclusions introduce the concept of social and relational sustainability as a way to achieve equal gender treatment when creating media discourses.