SPANISH SHOW: EL TURISMO Y LA RECONSTRUCCIÓN DE ESPAÑA (1959-1973)

Abstract

This dissertation examines the fundamental role tourism had in the last fifteen years of the Franco regime as a driving force for an unprecedented economic development in Spain and a multiplicity of socio-cultural transformations, which consequently led to the creation of new national narratives.

Chapter 1 begins with a definition of the concept of national image and then proceeds to the study of the most significant images of “Spanishness” constructed in the course of history: the “black legend” and romantic Spain. Aspects of both can be traced to the official image of Spain used for the promotion of tourism in the late-Francoist period, an image analyzed in depth in chapter 2.

After a revision of the history of tourism in Spain, this chapter continues with an exploration of tourism’s various facets and meanings, and with an examination of the multiple layers of signification contained under the “Spain is different” slogan. The opening of the borders to international mass tourism was seen as a menace by some segments of both the regime and society. An examination of a heterogeneous corpus of cultural products will reveal the fears and anxieties they portrayed, as well as the strategies used to assuage them. The title of one of the novels that will be analyzed, Spanish show, will be the starting point for a definition of the exaggerated and recurrent fabrication of an Andalusian “Spanishness” in the popular culture of the time. It will be argued that the actors who participated in the “Spanish show” for tourists were aware of its falsity, which will lead us to propose that tourism as a phenomenon, as well as the regimen’s image of political openness, were also constructions that formed part of the “Spanish show”: Spaniards were invited to participate in, and profit from, a seasonal opening of the borders that it was assumed not to change their traditions and way of life, while the “genuine” Spain would be hidden in the backstage—unavailable to the tourists’ view. However, in those changing times, that “true” Spain will turn out to be inapprehensible, an entity in perpetual deferment.

In chapter 3, an analysis of various cinematic, literary and graphic productions that construct a national identity in crisis will manifest the transformations that tourism brought about, despite the regimen’s attempt to prevent changes. In some of those works there is a reaction against the official image of Spain; others are against the sale of all marks of Spanish identity for tourism’s sake. The solutions they propose range from a reappropriation by Spaniards of their authority to represent themselves and their nation, to the (impossible) return to a pre-tourism Spain. The chapter will end with a consideration of the ideas of anti-Francoist artists who criticized the paucity of political changes and contended that economic development was leading Spaniards to a disinterest in politics.