Regional Character of Art translated into Film

After watching The Devil's Backbone, reading the Cronos thread, and finishing up reading Perspectives on Goya, it got me thinking about the similiarities between the macabre touches of Goya in relation to the tone of Guillermo Del Toro's films. I think that, no matter what you might say of either men's output, they remain intrinsically Spanish.
Something dark and whimsical, rooted in the language of tradition and ultimately hopeful. I think I want to write a paper on it.

In watching Boardwalk Empire, and Goodfellas, I think there is distinctly American method of filmmaking that extends beyond mere camera work and is a result of the culmination of our visual history. The two schools of Abstract Expressionism and the Regionalists...clear, grand pictures obsessed with wide spaces and sentiment.

I think Bollywood is a pretty obvious illustration, with musical numbers even in the most serious of subjects, with a highly stylized dance style.

So what would you call the character of American film-making? French FilmMaking? Spanish? English? Italian? Japanese? Is there an essential character to certain national cinemas? Whether genres and styles, what makes a national cinematic style?

Del Toro is Mexican? Fuck.

The point still stands, there is something noticably Goya-ish about Del Toro's output.


But what defines your "Canadian" feel re: Cronenburg?

Well, I think the significance of the influence comes out especially watching the films set in Spain. Even in artists such as Velasquez, Picasso and Dali there is.....just a tone there that I think Goya epitomizes.

Especially since Del Toro chose the Spanish settings for Backbone and Labryinth. I wonder if that's because of the particular cultural traditions of the region and that sort of dark tone that dominates Spanish art?Now that I think about it, Pan's Labryinth does seem like a literal Caprichos or Desastres.