New Spanish Cinema

Summary
The article is about how Spanish cinema has changed over the years. It was published on the 29th of September, 2002. The article goes into a lot of detail about how it has changed, by giving references to the early years of Spanish film making, and giving a detailed account on the history of Spanish cinema. The article also shows how Spanish cinema is not adapting as fast as European and American cinema, but still maintaining a strong following from the audiences. The article also reveals how Spanish cinema has come since the late 1800s to the late 1900s. It was clearly wrote to informal an audience in which are interested in the history of Spanish cinema, and how much it has changed over a period of time.

The main ideas in which the author is trying to communicate is how much the Spanish cinema has changed, due to influences from their culture, other cultures cinema such as American and European. It also continues to reflect on the matter that Spanish cinema has been lagging behind in the advancements in new cinema technology, as the American and European continue to make such substantial progress. Even the article subheading hints at the authors opening that Spanish cinema used to be slow in progress, with the use of the word "after" when it says "After 100 years of pulp, politics and melodrama, Spanish moviemakers have fashioned a cinema where".

Overall, the article discusses the authors thoughts and feelings on Spanish cinema and their moviemakers, and also shows a deep understanding with the references to the very first Spanish films.

Interesting points
I found the article somewhat interesting due to the fact that I take Spanish as an option. It would also add towards my knowledge towards Spanish culture - which will be needed for the near future when studying Spanish. It also gives me an insight into some famous Spanish people.

I also enjoyed how the article goes into depth about the Spanish cinema history. For example, they mention the first actual fiction film made in Spain, by Fructuoso Gelabert with the film "Café Brawl" made in 1897. It also tells how "The Mystery of the Puerta de Sol" made in 1929, was the first sound picture produced in Spain - which I find interesting because it came such a long time after the the first know public exhibition of sound in a film took place in Paris in the 1900s. It also mentioned about the first actual film made in Spain, which is said to be Eduardo Jimeno's "People Coming out of the Noontime Mass at the Cathedral of the Virgin of Pilar in Zaragoza" made in 1897.

I found it interesting when it said that Spanish cinema continued to make silent films, whereas European and American cinema continued to make massive amounts of progress with films with dialogue, where it said "But while American and other European [...] made significant leaps in sound technology, Spanish films continued [...] as silent works" It also stated that "It was Hollywood that gave Spanish audiences their first good sound films", which I find interesting as I would like to know why Spanish cinema did not do so for their own market, and if there was any social, political or any other reason for the fact that the just did not introduce good sound films before Hollywood did.

Another interesting thing I found in this article how it stated that "The Spanish film industry was producing about 60 pictures a year at this point" which seems like a lot for back then, but by today's standards, comparing to how many movies Hollywood makes a year, does not seem a lot, since there seems to be a new film by Hollywood every week.

Overall, I quiet enjoyed the article, which I would not tend to say about an article like this, due to the fact that I rarely enjoy news articles of this type. I liked it because it gave me a better understanding of Spanish cinema, and how they have adapted over the years to what they have become, and it would contribute to one of my courses, as we are going to learn about films in Spanish. I also liked the reference to the olden day movies made in Spain and how there was so much detail about the history and some cultural information on Spanish cinema and the filmmakers. Also, the way in which in maintains a credible source of knowledge, yet appears to be addressed in an informal manor makes the article nicer to read and comprehend. 

Unknown words
* Commencement -  the beginning / the start of something
* Pseudonym -  a name that is false: such as a stage name
* Melodramatic - a film that is highly dramatic and emotional
* Opulent - being wealthy or indicating wealth
* Penchant -  a strong preference or liking
* Liberalization - making something less strict
* Mavericks - unorthodox or independent minded person