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9. Staged Ethnicity, Acted Modernity: Identity and Gender Representations in Spanish Visual Culture (1968-2005)
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175 u 9 Staged Ethnicity, Acted Modernity: Identity and Gender Representations in Spanish Visual Culture (1968–2005) Estrella de Diego What Do You Mean “We”? In 1990, Spain chose Azúcar Moreno—a couple of gypsy women who sang so-called “flamenco pop”—to represent the country in the Eurofestival, a pop music event, that for some obscure reason has had a strong, even out of proportion , significance for the country in its own cultural representations. The title of the song they presented at the Zagreb edition, Bandido (brigand), was cliché enough to fit into the most predictable narrative about “Spanishness”: gypsies, Carmen, bullfighters, bandits, and so forth. But of course, one should maybe start by explaining what the Eurofestival was meant to be as a cultural product and how it was perceived in Spain during Franco’s years, soon after it was “designed ” in the mid-1950s, right after the standardization of television. The event was presented as a neutral territory for European countries to meet and get acquainted with each other in a ludicrous non-problematic common space: pop music. Nevertheless, the strategy behind the whole mise-enscene was no doubt a clear commercial intention, which found its best ally in the newly explored power of a implacable medium such as television. Not only that, a quite strong undercover political aim was hiding backstage: in fact, 176 ESTRELLA DE DIEGO voting for a song was voting for a country. As with any cultural representation, power was the name of the game. Therefore, at least in those first years the Eurofestival seemed to be a place to see and to be seen. It was the perfect stage to materialize the visibility Spain desperately sought during the late 60s and early 70s, while the need to open Spain to foreign tourism seemed to be crucial for the apparatus’s political and economic plans at a time when the dictatorship kept the country isolated internationally. This is why in 1968, Spain overcelebrated the first and only time a Spanish song won the contest.1 Returning from London, Massiel, a female singer who became a kind of cultural icon after the festival and from then on never did much more than enjoy her success in the contest, was received as a “national heroine” by official sectors. At last, Madrid would have the opportunity to organize an edition of the Eurofestival and show the world that new and modern image the regime was then eager to export, due to its mentioned tourism development plans. Paradoxically, Massiel´s song “La, La, La” was meant to be sung by Joan Manuel Serrat, an antifrancoist Catalan singer and composer who was finally banned from representing Spain in the Eurofestival: he would sing in Catalan or would not sing at all, Serrat claimed. Needless to say, Serrat never went to London and Massiel took his place. In fact, all local newspapers criticized his gesture.2 What seemed interesting about the whole story was how Serrat’s gesture opened some kind of a debate—or at least the closest thing to a debate that Franco’s newspapers could allow themselves. In 1968 it was already clear that politics were everywhere, especially when censorship controlled life and culture . The Eurofestival was no exception. The Barcelona daily La Vanguardia— at that time La Vanguardia Española—published a most ambiguous note entitled “El ‘caso’ Serrat” that openly defended the use of Catalan language.3 Nonetheless, the article stated that Serrat lacked “seny” (common sense, responsibility ), possibly the worst accusation in Catalan terms.4 He should have decided he wanted to sing in Catalan before accepting the invitation. Apart from that related to the redefinition of “Spanishness” as a shy political debate, when the great day came and Madrid hosted the event, the efforts to (re)present the country as a “modern” and “wealthy” one were as obsessive as pathetic. The flamboyant chinchilla coat Massiel was wearing for the festival opening was so pretentious, that far from being modern and elegant it represented the essence of a nouveau rich extravaganza, an interesting example of a kind of “flaunting modernity” that peripheries sometimes adopt, in order [3.136.97.64] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 21:35 GMT) STAGED ETHNICITY, ACTED MODERNITY 177 to keep up with the so-called center—whatever “periphery” and “center” may mean in this as in other contexts. But of course, the often clumsy strategies of Franco’s Minister of Information and Tourism in order to generate...