Female Power in La casa de papel/Money Heist

This chapter explores one of the most successful Spanish TV series in recent history, La casa de papel/Money Heist (2017–2021, Antena 3 and Netflix). It analyses whether and how female identities are still embedded in a phallocentric imaginary by analysing one of the most intriguing new constructions of televisual female professionals, Raquel Murillo (Itziar Ituño), to our knowledge the first Spanish female TV police negotiator. While women in one of law enforcement’s most challenging roles can be read symbolically as professionals reaching new heights of equality, female heroes are still deliberately ambiguous characters who contravene norms of femininity and rebel against patriarchal authority. The chapter argues that the ambiguity of these women, long perceived as deficiency, actually offers alternative models for women in a male-dominated profession.