Abstract

This thesis aims to be a critical investigation into the representation of bullfighting in the history of Spanish cinema, through the framework of Antonio Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony (Gramsci [1929-1935] 2007), including the concept of ‘orientalism’ (Said 1978), and the study of identity in film genre and national cinema. I explore how some dominant cultural elements, such as male virility, ultra-conservative Catholicism and political nationalism, exerted their influence on films about bullfighting throughout history.
With a close textual analysis of an extended filmic corpus of cine taurino, which includes fictions and documentaries, popular films and cinéma d’essai, and comparative studies with other national cinemas, I investigate which predominant meanings have been conveyed through visual representations of bulls, bullfighters and bullrings, and how these meanings can find their roots in bullfighting culture itself and in cultural movements of 20th Century Spain.
As a brand-new study in the field of Spanish Film Studies, with little literature available, the investigation explores all the three major eras of Spanish film history, which correspond to specific political situations in the Spanish state:
- The pre-Franco era (1896-1939), focused on the genesis of the cinematic genre and subgenre and on the controversies about the macro-genre of the filmic españolada in silent films (Navarrete Cardero 2009);
- The Francoist dictatorship (1939-1975), focused on the political evolution of bullfighting representation in national cinema as a metaphor for class struggle;
- Post-Franco cinema (1975 - 2012), focused on the new wave of filmmakers who portrayed gender reversal in virility, bravery and strength (now conferred to the literal or symbolic matadora), using formal elements of the stereotypical representation of Spanishness.