This essay will seek to examine how contemporary Spanish youth identities are portrayed in the two films Historias del kronen and Abre los ojos. To fully understand the youth sub-cultures of the 90s embodied in the two films, it is pivotal to understand the historical context. Historias del Kronen is set in the 1992 post-Franco era where sudden excessive freedom after the dictatorship, especially the legalisation of drugs for recreational use from 1982 to 1992, led the youth culture into apathy and resistance towards responsibilities and morals and concurrently made the Spanish youth more inclined into trivial matters such as sex, drugs and constant partying. The –pasotismo- the characters feel, especially Carlos, is emblematic of how …show more content…
Not only these public spaces are important for the characters but the time in which they are used are of pivotal importance; when night falls, the older generation is not around, leaving space for the youth culture to be at ease. The space and time both stress the dichotomy between the young generation and the older one. As Carlos states in the novel “en general no soporto a nadie en mi familia” (10) In both films, the idea of home itself is a common theme being linked with the idea of living under the same roof as the older generation. Parra talks about family ‘..as una representación del mundo exterior, esto es, se representa de alguna manera el caos del exterior en el interior de las relaciones entre los padres y la hermana con Carlos. Existe un hueco generacional entre los padres del protagonista que han luchado por algo y el propio Carlos que no se satisface con nada.’