Hijos homosexuales y sus madres en el cine de Almodóvar: patriarcado, sexualidad y capitalismo

This article analyzes the relationship between homosexual sons and their mothers in Almodóvar's films, a dynamic developed from their shared suffering under the patriarchy as depicted in the films Pain and Glory (2019) and What have I done to deserve this? (1984). There is agreement in these dynamics as to how these two marginalized groups must navigate a post-Franco Spain in order to prosper. By resisting patriarchal limitations by coming together, gay sons and their mothers learn how to use their relationship to their advantage. Within this Oedipal analysis of a homosexual son and heterosexual mother in two films, the body represents patriarchal systems of oppression (the home and the state), it can be used to escape poverty (the body as transactional), the body can allow gender expression (the body as an expression of queerness) and sexuality (the body allows sexual liberation). The article is an analysis of both queerness and motherhood in Almodóvar’s films. This analysis first establishes why gay boys gravitate to their mother in an oedipal framework. Once establishing why this dynamic is prevalent, it looks into how these two groups bond over their shared experiences under the post Franco dictatorship and unite forces in order to allow for sexual expression and liberation under a capitalist and sexist structure.