AGE-C participates in International Seminar on Female Stardom at Universidad Carlos III, Madrid

AGE-C team members Dr. Belén Vidal and Dr Luis Freijo attended the International Seminar “Miradas al Audiovisual Español” organised at the Universidad Carlos III in Madrid, Spain, which in its 2023 edition focused on Spanish female stardom. The Seminar was organised by Dr Asier Gil Vázquez, Dr Santiago Lomas, Dr Ana Mejón and Dr Elena Oroz from the research group TECMERIN, within the Department of Communication at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, and it was especially centered on the figure of the Spanish popular singer, dancer and actress Lola Flores, to commemorate her centennial. Lola Flores was the protagonist of the keynote sessions delivered by Dr Marina Díaz López (Instituto Cervantes) and Professor Duncan Wheeler (University of Leeds), while Professor Jean-Paul Aubert’s (Université Côte d’Azur) plenary talk focused on a theoretical understanding of ageing and stardom, with some case studies such as Spanish 1950’s and 60’s star Sara Montiel.

AGE-C member Dr. Luis Freijo contributed a paper to the last panel of the two-day conference where he discussed the issues surrounding popular stardom, ageing and memory in the last performance of folkloric singer Rocío Jurado. Using the concepts of “technologies of age” (Medina Bañón and Zecchi, 2020) and the notion of différance (Derrida, 1967) as critical framework, Dr Freijo analyzed how television visual language was configured in the last song ever performed by Jurado to enhance the stardom of the singer and defer it into the future, beyond the passing of the star six months after the performance. Specifically, the use of close-ups and the continued repetitions of the chorus create a sense of duration that offers a simultaneous acknowledgement of Jurado’s illness while retaining the powerful performative style that defined her career. Therefore, the Seminar was a prime forum to rehearse methodologies for AGE-C and to start understanding how issues of ageing such as illness can co-exist with positive interpretations of age, as in the last performance of Rocío Jurado.