Public opinion and social transformation

The documentary macro-genre is one of the areas of cinema where the participation of women professionals has seen significant growth, both globally and locally. This article explores the material, institutional and educational factors that have contributed to the increased presence of women filmmakers in contemporary Spanish documentary, with particular focus on the last decade —a period marked by the revitalisation of the feminist movement in the audiovisual sector. The analysis is organised around three key themes: the impact of digitalisation; the expansion of visibility through cultural spaces, festivals and feminist collectives; and the consolidation of specialised training opportunities. These factors have promoted greater accessibility, autonomy, diversity and recognition within a practice that, paradoxically, has often been regarded as peripheral. Eschewing exceptionalist approaches, this article provides a review of specialised literature, with a specific focus on production, circulation and training conditions that remain relatively underexplored.

This article analyses discourses on masculinity in slash fiction featuring two fictional pairings of content creators linked to the world of video games: Rubelangel (Rubius and Mangel) and Septiplier (Jacksepticeye and Markiplier). Slash fiction is a fan-produced genre that imagines romantic and sexual relationships between male characters or celebrities who are heterosexual. The aim of this research is to examine how masculinity  is represented and the way in which it is transformed due to the protagonists’ falling in love with one another. Through a critical discourse analysis applied to 22 texts about Septiplier and Rubelangel, the article analyses models of masculinity, the constraints and  discomforts they impose on the characters, and the ways masculinity is reconfigured to make their romantic relationship possible. The findings show how slash fiction can function as a space for negotiating and reinterpreting masculinity within the highly masculinised and heteronormative realm of video games.

This article examines how meme makers become established professionals, based on an ethnographic case study focusing on Marina, who runs the Instagram account @listillas. The study focuses on the transition from meme maker, a position tied to vernacular and communitybased creative practices, to the more professional role of content creator. This case study is part of an ethnography project carried out between April 2021 and April 2023 that combines participant observation, ethnographic interviews, and online life stories. The analysis reveals that professionalisation does not imply a linear substitution of community logics by commercial ones, but a tensioned coexistence between gift economies and platform capitalism. Through strategic campaigns, Marina reaches out to the community and to the wider public. Within this setting, she assumes the role of mediator of a constantly reconfiguring symbolic laboratory, generating new forms of subjectivity and cultural value.