New feminist voices in Spanish audio-visual cultural production: Vis a vis (Locked Up) (Antena 3 and Globomedia, 2015–19) and La casa de papel (Money Heist) (Antena 3 and Netflix, 2017–21)

Abstract

This article maps an emerging engagement with intersections amongst gender, voice/sound and feminism in the context of contemporary Spanish audio-visual cultural production. I locate the voice at the nexus of contemporary feminisms as these manifest through popular, public and theoretical means. Taking two recent internationally successful Spanish series (Vis a vis [Locked Up] and La casa de papel [Money Heist]) as examples, I contend that female voices and their treatment within contemporary Spanish audio-visual cultures constitute an important site within which female subjectivities emerge and are claimed. I analyse the importance of gender representations on- and off-screen in these works and attend to the use of music and voice-over in these shows as exemplifying the contradictory character of the voice within contemporary feminisms, both in and beyond Spain.