ONLINE FIRST
published on March 10, 2021
Meribah Rose

https://doi.org/10.5840/filmphil2021344
Pedro Almod車var*s Communities of Circumstance
This article engages in a close analysis of community across the films of Spanish director Pedro Almod車var. What emerges from this is that while Almod車var has a strong subversive streak, his films are deeply concerned with questions about how we might live together in the best way possible. Drawing on the feminist ethics of care〞with its emphasis on the maternal as an ethical model〞and the work of Jean-Luc Nancy, I argue that Almod車var*s preferred communities are ※communities of circumstance,§ best conceptualized as dynamic networks of relations that respond directly to the varied needs of their members. Rather than fitting any fixed social boundaries, they emerge organically from lived experience. Ultimately, I conclude that Almod車var*s films not only offer screen representations of communities of circumstance, but might contribute to our understanding of what it means to live in community in the ※real world.§