In this short week, we sought to understand the advent of fascism as an emblem of a historical lockdown, and how music and religion played a role in this moment of reconfiguration of historical memory.
The advent of fascism in Spain during the second half of the 30s became an emblem of a historical lockdown, a kind of revival of the deadly battles between Catholics and Protestants during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Today, February 15, we discussed the basics of the “Spanish Civil War,” the importance of “life stories” and “death stories” in the remembrance of such war, and the role that war, music, life, and death played in the unfolding of fascism, nationalism, and historical memory in 20th-century Spain.
During class, we noted some parallel events / moments with US history and we watched a clip of Perojo’s Suspiros de España / Whispers of-from Spain from 1938, as well as a clip from Basilio Martín Patino’s 1971 / 1976 Songs for Post-War Time. In watching these two SHORT clips we saw how they reveal stark strategic negotiations of the visual aspect, especially the dimension of close-up takes with broadening takes to incorporate other people in the image in Benito Perojo’s on the one hand and, on the other, the documentary footage composed with historical images of written registers, formation of mobs, poverty, etc. in full play with the role of song as a voice-over.
Write a reflection about music and war, life and death in Spain (1930s, 1970s) OR in the US (past, present) and how this set of coordinates may help us envision fascism, see it coming.
Please, post your reflection by Friday at 6pm at the latest, so our watching the film for next week does not get confused in your memory with this one.
This week in our discussion of war, music, and life/death stories, the main question I keep coming back to is “How is history constructed?” We remember the past, especially big events like war, through our music and the stories we tell about the lives lived and lost at a particular point in time. The stories we tell, like the death of the Trece Rosas, can be unreliable and be based more on fiction than reality. However, as we discussed in class, despite historical inaccuracies, life and death stories live on because they capture the emotional pain, injustices, and horror of war. These remembrances of worse times, even when they are not entirely accurate, are important because they serve as a way to not only grieve the past but to warn us to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. As Professor Carrion said in class, “A divided nation is fertile soil for fascism.” Rather than blindingly accepting fascism as an inevitability in our increasingly divided nation, I hope we see stories like Trece Rosa as not only a symbol of grief but a warning to avoid repeating history.
The use of music in Spain is a way of recounting history, particularly war. War stories are exceedingly popular in Spain, and particularly at the time. As we’ve discussed in class the other day, media and oral traditions can be hijacked for political purposes. In the case of the fascists the songs of war seemed to have been coopted and used to remind Spaniards of their history, including the war tendencies. By reviving their pride in their traditions, they would be more supportive of Franco and the fascists. However, as we’ve seen in the example of Trecas Rosas, the use of music can be used as a form of rebellion. I’d say then that the use of music effectively foreshadowed more conflict.
The aspect of this week’s discussion that I found most fascinating is how the two filmmakers Perojo and Basilio use specific imagery to indicate political and social perspective. The use of Falangist hymns in chanting voices as the audio while the visuals panned over large groups to portray the nationalist versus the individual female singer singing about loving her land in a portrayal of the republicans I believe draws the viewer to make associations between groups blindly following a loud voice and the intimate nature of uncovering one’s own feelings about their country. The use of the single female voice draws on the older tropes of the female heroine in Spanish film that we have talked about before which probably has an instinctive symbolism to Spanish viewers.
The stories of life and death play important roles in the creation of a national mythology. The monument to Franco in Spain becomes a constant open wound and reminder of the death and suffering of all the people as well as a monument to Franco’s life and death. The monuments left standing in any nation play an important role in who is remembered and who is forgotten, and the monument to Franco seems to indicate that people are still willing to hold him in high regard or at the very least still think of him as a central figure in the creation of modern Spain.
Music is a palpable, ritualistic form of political agency. One thing I noticed that interested me in “Songs After War” was the subtle build-up of people singing in unison in the background. This illustrated a common thread in political propaganda, the support of the people. As the music swelled, the voices of the people replaced the main singer. This, in tandem with the visual representations of the people themselves, served as a marker for the Francoist regime. They provided order in the wake of destruction and in their eyes, the people were grateful. This parallels with both the direct exposure and assistance provided by the fascist regime in Germany and Germany’s own experience with fascism. The replacement of chaos with order, and the use of music to illustrate this newfound unity, is present in both cases. Even with the film being produced in the 1970s, that replacement of chaos still served as an effective political tool. Especially considering the recent death of Franco, this reaffirment of order was necessary. Compared with Suspiros de Espana, Songs after War provided a less sorrowful remembrance of the war. It sought to reinvigorate the Spanish State, rather than attempt to deal with the trauma of the civil war.
Suspiros de España (Whispers of Spain) from 1938 and Canciones para Después de una Guerra) Songs from Post War Time, produced in 1971 and released in 1976, depict two pivotal moments in Spanish history; as it embraced and left fascism, respectively. Whispers of Spain stars Estrellita Castro, a Spanish cultural icon of her time, as she melancholically sings to her country in a room of men and women. Songs from Post-War Time compiles archival footage of crowds during various points in the Franco era, coupled with a soundtrack of nationalist song and music. Studied together, the two excerpts of film foreshadow Spain’s regression into fascism during the late 1930s and the consequences of said event in the years to come. Whispers of Spain may be interpreted as a grim farewell to a brief period of freedom which would eventually succumb to authoritarianism, with Songs from Post-War Time reflecting on the transformation Spain has endured in subsequent years, soon before the official end of fascism in Spain. Comparing Spain’s relationship between film and fascism to that of the United States, D.W Griffith’s Birth Of A Nation (1915) may be compared to contemporary depicts of the fascistic South, such as 12 Years a Slave (2012), I Am Not Your Negro (2016) and Selma (2014). Griffith’s 1915 film told a revisionist story of the American Civil War, depicting white Southerners and KKK members as heroes and black slaves as villains. The film was extremely divisive for its overt support of the Civil-War era, fascist South, and is credited for inspiring the revival of the KKK during World War One. Cinematic depictions of Slavery and fascism of the American South have evolved greatly since the time of Griffith, with modern work depicting far more honest portrayals of slavery and subsequent longterm castigation of black Americans. Likewise, civil rights politics and race relations have evolved far from the early 20th century to their present state, continuously changing alongside media. Popular media, in the form of film, music or literature can be useful indicators of political trends in a country, as is the case for fascism in Spain and the American South.