Intertextuality in audiovisual texts: Donkey Xote

Abstract

This paper analyses intertextuality and its functions in the film Donkey Xote (2007, José Pozo), an audiovisual adaptation for a double addressee (children/adults) of El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha (Cervantes, 1604). Intertextuality can be identified in most text types; it results in a receiver’s active role as cultural knowledge is required. The study proves that intertextual references contribute to constructing the discourse and they have also a didactic aim trying to introduce children playfully to a universal canonical work by placing them in a familiar context (many intertexts are kenotypes, that is, references to modernity within an antique framework). Moreover, the film includes a lot of intertextual elements, most of them with a humorous function, which are complex and are specifically addressed to an adult audience.