Eldorado revisited: Spanish film- makers in Reagan’s America

Abstract

In the early 1980s Spanish directors José Luis Borau and Bigas Luna produced two films – 0n the Line and Reborn respectively – that offered a trans-national perspective on American society of the early Reaganite 1980s. On the Line focussed on the issue of trafficking Mexican immigrants; Reborn dealt with tele-evangelism. Both narratives were presented as challenges to American unity as identified in the conservative social and cultural values of the time. Each film raised the issue of social hybridity and raised the question – to which both gave ambiguous answers – of whether different cultures can co-exist within a unified, monolithic American culture.