Almodóvar and la movida in El Ministerio del Tiempo : Queering or Pinkwashing the Spanish Democratic Transition?

This article examines the fictional renderings of Pedro Alm & oacute;dovar and la movida in the Spanish TV series El Ministerio del Tiempo (2015-2020). First, I analyze how El Ministerio champions the democratic transition as a period that set the foundations for a modern pluralistic Spain. Then, I examine how the series incorporates Almod & oacute;var's Laberinto de pasiones (1982) into its story as a means of stressing the vital contribution of the underground scene to the renewal of post- Franco culture. I focus on El Ministerio's portrayal of drag performances and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, highlighting the restaging of one of Almod & oacute;var's earliest and most daring films, and thus showing how the series adjusts an emblematic example of counterculture to hegemonic accounts of the transition. Ultimately, I argue that El Ministerio assimilates sexual diversity and counterculture into a teleological rereading of Spanish history that celebrates the transition as the ultimate stage of individual freedom and national reconciliation.