In both the film Mujeres al borde de un ataque de niervos (Almodovar, 1988) and in the novel La soledad era esto (Millas, 1990) the main characters undergo a process of change and transformation. Pepa and the women from the movie represent the stereotypical Spanish women whose lives are centred on men but that after all try to escape from this routine. Hence both the movie and the novel can be seen as an attempt to show the collective revolution, as in these women try to distance themselves from the patriarchal-type of society, conquering a new role within it and managing at the same time to find their new and better self. In the same way, many other women during the same era tried to break down the social conventions thus changing their roles …show more content…
This does not only tell the reader that Elena has to put her life together as a puzzle nor that the reader has to do that, but it shows the means through which the character will build her identity (Segura, Columbia University). In fact, she starts the process necessary for her self-analysis by reading her mother’s diary. In this way she relates to her mother, but in doing so, she “recognises the limitations of her subjectivity and is willing to articulate them in order to evolve a singularity capable of subverting authority and emancipating the self from extraneous social factors” as Kakraba says (1999). The process continues with the reading of the detective’s reports. These reports work as the notes of an analyst who looks at a patient from outside, giving her more clues about her life than how much she could find on her own, almost assuming the role of the author on whom the story of the character depends before she starts the journey for her inner understanding (Amago, 2006). The fact that the narrative of the book is important in relation to Elena’s development can be also seen in the reference to Kafka’s Metamorphosis. If reading and writing are directly linked to the character’s transition from being a mere woman to being conscious of her true self, then …show more content…
She does not uses them in every scene but only at the dubbing studio: this choice represents her willingness to modify her status of blind victim to owner of the sight, making her in charge of what she decides to do in her life (Girelli, 2006). Wearing glasses in this case is not considered a deficiency in seeing, because a woman is wearing them, instead, they signify an active looking as Doane says (1991). For Pepa, her outfit does not mean submission over the patriarchal ideals; it rather means that by changing her looks into a more feminine one, she maintains self-control and she imposes herself on others (Girelli, 2006). Almodovar uses the costumes to give power over the characters, to give them something they can be in charge of but at the same time, his use of the costumes reveals that the Francoist patriarchal regime still influences women’s lives after its end. Lucia can be a clear example of that as she dresses with outlandish and outdated clothing just to please her father (Davies, 2007), meaning that the patriarchal figure in her life was so important to the extent that she constructs her identity according to the men’s will. It seems like she wants to transform her life with the insane act of killing her husband Ivan without going through with it, therefore she will stay trapped in the past excluding the possibility of moving on (Finney, 2014). Almodovar constantly tells us that appearance is