**5. Discussion**

While statistical and quantitative data seem to indicate positive trends (Figure 1), and since rural spaces are not free from gendered relationships that might be imbued with stereotypes and unequal messages, the sources of the research present some allusions to the gendered visual representation of the Camino. The emotions evoked by the cinema are centered on spatial and social representations through the subjective experience that interferes with the meaning-making process. Although film locations correspond to real spaces, spatial representations are not completely neutral and objective. The more realistic the location, the more realistic the treatment of the characters. This was the focus of this research. The rural spaces of these visual narratives transmit their authenticity; therefore, attention should be paid to the social and gendered relationships that are represented, as "scenic spaces should convey the existence of a word with both an internal coherent logic" [38] (pp. 4359–4360). This respect for the natural and monumental environment has emerged in movies, which convey the idea of sustainable tourism along the Camino. As movies are also concerned with transmitting sensations and atmosphere about places [90], the immersive experience of the Camino has potential. Besides personal details, the background motivation of the movies is a proper *quest*, which is a spiritual journey that involves the search for one's self as part of an educational process of the individual [91,92]. The enjoyment of landscapes and environmental elements favor such physical and spiritual health [20,23,24,87]; thus pilgrims perceive the charm of the Camino, and are excited about what they are doing; a sort of "Camino effect" affects their vision. However, Honggang Xu [93] reminds us that public spaces are not innocuous and objectively defined, but are rather politicized, sexualized, subjective, and gendered. Additionally, Annette Pritchard and Nigel J. Morgan [72] warn that tourist landscapes are constructed as "masculinized" and built for the movement and enjoyment of men, often at the exclusion and isolation of women. Something similar emerges in the in the selected movies where, for instance, pilgrims' guides are always men, alluding to their role as leaders.

Each producer loads the space of the Camino with their poetics, that is, their personal discourse according to which some aspects are prioritized over others. The *poïesis* (meant as creative power) is contained in the poetic aspects of a space, the aim of which is to express a socio-spatial dimension [94]. This process engenders aesthetic representations and power relations, derived from a subjective and cultural understanding of the space within filming. For this reason, it was possible to identify the

geo-poetics [95,96] and a geo-politic [97,98] of the Camino within the analyzed sources. The term geo-poetics denotes the multiple forms of representing the rural spaces of the Camino. The culture of origin, subjectivity, and experiences of the characters determine the transcultural representations of this pilgrimage route. The intensity of the geo-poetics depends on motivations, expectations, and ways of relating to the environment. In cinema, the setting, the places, and the décor have always represented some of the essential components of the production of a film. Thus, geo-poetics in the film production consist of understanding the cinematographic forms of the space that simultaneously provide a realistic framework for the action and the poetic support of a concrete and natural environment [99]. Geo-politics refers to representations, knowledge, and communications implied by this form of rewriting of the Camino rural space, as it produces relationships of knowledge and power between the creator and the observer [97,98]. For instance, the di fferent modes of organization of the cinematic space enact political relationships that interpret the ideological issues related to the space. The motivation of the pilgrim-actors can determine the spectators' interpretations. Thus, also in the cinematic productions gender and sexuality are very much socially constructed through various power relationships [91,100,101], although female pilgrims perform and embody the same practices of the male pilgrims. For C. Figueroa Domecq et al. [100], the studies on gender and tourism are important because they deal with a dynamic social phenomenon like tourism. The access of female tourists to touristic spaces and their experiences are subjected to the gaze of men, and therefore female tourists' experiences are highly influenced and often involuntarily altered by unwanted male attention and sexual harassment [101]. In the cinema, textual and visual codes have manifold ways to express the producers' intentions, while being imbued with the cultural knowledge that denotes the space of the Camino. Referring to the movies considered, styles are di fferent, but all of them widely use the synecdoche, as the most common female social representations work as references for the whole genre. It was possible to identify the use of gendered stereotypes that (consciously or not) appear in the filmic productions. In addition, the female characters correspond to typical female social roles:


The comparison among the four movies revealed how the di fferent treatments of the same cultural and territorial information rely on the use of filmic images as tools to construct a powerful (and successful) discourse. The real di fferences consist of the relationships between pilgrims and environment and between pilgrims and their Caminos. A di fferent and more active representation of a female pilgrim was only found in the film produced by a female director—*Saint Jacques* ... *La Mecque* by Colin Serrau. The goal of feminist films to create other conditions of visibility for a di fferent social subject [102] is achieved within the case studies, but the treatment of female characters still hides a certain degree of the patriarchal structure. The societal roles played by the female characters (wives, mothers, daughters, etc.) allude to the persistence of gender identities and models of representation that enable the exploration of the latent ideology within the abovementioned filmic productions. This reiteration occurs because tourism locations might not necessarily provide freedom from gendered social patterns [3]. The depicted female pilgrims are quite young, beautiful, and conform to the

aesthetic canons, as the above moviescapes show (Figures 5–9). In the case studies, the cinematic production does not escape inequalities and discriminations. The images reproduced on the screen do not limit their e ffect to a target public; rather, they determine the perception of the societal and sexual roles [103].
