Buñuel Goes Medieval.

Revisiting the impact of medieval conventions such as the restitutio virginitatis or other variations of genital mutilation after considering scenes from Luis Buñuel's films Él and Cet obscur objet du désir and these films' obsessive interest in sewn-up female genitals, the author, in this chapter, arrives at a more multi-focal understanding of the social, religious, and economic enterprises invested in both prohibiting and promoting these female-phobic practices during the late Middle Ages and early modern period. As some scholars have suggested, Buñuel's evident preoccupation with male castration anxiety frequently translates in his films into images that suggest the vagina dentata. Buñuel's psychoanalytically charged images of vaginal sewing as a signal of male castration anxiety allows us to revisit earlier texts for signs of similar fears. Buñuel's sensibilities prove valuable for new readings of Cervantes' prose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]