ANIMAFEST PRO | ANIMAFEST SCANNER XII | PANEL 3: ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE LINE

Violence as Discourse in Alberto Vázquez’s Animated Cinema - ADRIANA NAVARRO-ÁLVAREZ

PANEL 3 - ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE LINE
04/06 WED 11:55-12:25 KIC

This study analyzes the use of violence as a narrative and graphic tool in the animated films of Alberto Vázquez, a key figure in contemporary independent cinema. The auteur constructs crude stories through a child-like visual style aimed at an adult audience. This contrast between the visuals and the script as an aesthetic resource generates uncomfortable tension, enhancing the impact of violent scenes while intensifying the denunciation of social issues. Vázquez's works, based on this activist approach, result from a reflection on the contradictory and media-driven present.  To this end, the methodological analysis focuses on three films based on various forms of violence: Psiconautas, los niños olvidados (2015), which implicitly addresses psychological violence, set in a post-apocalyptic universe marked by addictions, hopelessness, and the social alienation of its characters. Unicorn Wars (2022) uses physical violence and graphic crudeness to depict current themes, such as militarism, religious fanaticism, and the absurdity of war, through a bloody conflict between teddy bears and unicorns. In the short film Decorado (2016) - awaiting the feature film of the same title, which is scheduled to be completed in 2025 - violence takes on a philosophical perspective, which adds a new dimension to its graphic and narrative representation. Unlike the previous films, the violence is neither explicit nor physical, revealing the silent oppression of social structures and the weight of a conditioned existence. The use of violence in Vázquez's animated films is a discursive resource that challenges the mainstream conventions and contributes to an incisive social critique. His ability to show it from a playful and disturbing perspective invites us to reflect on power dynamics, structural violence, and the contradictions of the human condition, thus consolidating Vázquez's role as an unavoidable reference in the contemporary animation arena.

Adriana Navarro-Álvarez, PhD in Fine Arts, is an Assistant Professor under LOSU regulations at the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the University of A Coruña, Spain. She teaches Production Design for Animation and Videogames, and Animation Character Acting. She is a member of the Arte-Facto Research Group, focusing her research interests on the production of auteur-driven animated short films. Previously, she worked as an Assistant Professor of Animation at Volda University College, Norway. Her Master's graduation short film, Vía Tango, was nominated for the Goya Awards.