Franco and the filmmakers: critical myths, transparent realities

Abstract

Like so many contested pasts, the history of Spain in the twentieth century has often been presented in binary terms.0 Torn apart by a brutal civil war, then subject to nearly forty years of dictatorial rule, Spain offers those who , seek to analyze her a facile opportunity to divide cleanly the good from the evil. As cultural historian R. A. Stradling has argued, «much writing about the Spanish Civil War is concerned to defend what might be called the ‘mutual hegemony’ of two opposed myths,» a phenomenon «evident right across the spectrum of reportage..., source material, and... professional historiografy...»