The Regulation of Television Under Franco: From the History of Entertainment to History as Entertainment
No. 40 (2010-01-01)Author(s)
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José Carlos Rueda Laffond
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Carlota Coronado Ruiz
Abstract
This article interprets television as a social and political medium. On the one hand, it examines the principal ways that Franco’s government, during its final years in power (1968-1975), managed and used it for social ends. And, on the other hand, it analyzes various ways in which contemporary Spanish television represents historical periods by evoking key characteristics that defined its social configuration. The article then analyzes a series of similarities between the functions bestowed upon television by the Franquist power elite and the nostalgia-evoking strategies of some recent, madefor- television programs of historical fiction.
Keywords:
entertainment, television, Franco, historical fiction, Spain