Un cadáver exquisito. Tanatofilia y tanatofobia en torno al 20-N
ISSN: 2255-0968
Year of publication: 2019
Issue Title: Fechas simbólicas
Issue: 8
Pages: 77-105
Type: Article
More publications in: Ariadna histórica. Lenguajes, conceptos, metáforas
Abstract
The article goes through the visual semiotics associated with 20-N (11-20) - November 20th 1975, the date of General Franco's death -, based primarily on their strategies for representing the event on television. As a general theme, thanatophobia and thanatophilia and their symbolic dimensions are emphasised. Firstly, the paper breaks down the hagiographic exaltation practices used on television in 1975, subsequently addressing two TV productions which are definitely desacralising: the documentary Así murió Franco (1994) and the film drama 20-N. Los últimos días de Franco (2008). In both, the death of Franco is deliberately underplayed, moving from the public phenomenon to private anguish, while deconstructing and depriving of its meaning the pro-regime symbolism deployed in 1975.