Fighting Bullfighting (long post)

Richard

Bullfighting has long been a national embarrassment to most Spaniards. Attempts to prohibit it have consistently been defeated by powerful special interests--it's a big business. The Catalans have been in the vanguard of efforts to abolish bullfighting, but recently the regional governments of Madrid, Murcia and Valencia have declared it a protected part of Spain's cultural heritage. Juan Carlos, King of Spain, jumped into the fray by describing the tradition as a "fertile cultural and artistic world," provoking a strong reaction throughout the country. Here are some pics of a demonstration taken last week in Madrid:

1. Several thousand protesters gathered in front of Madrid's old City Hall.



2. Animal rights groups from different parts of the country took part.



3. The most commonly seen placard said "Torture is not culture."

4.

5. "Your excuses are words of death"



6. "Cruel with bulls, cruel with everyone"

7. This was not they only anti-bullfighting doggie in the crowd.

8. Sums it all up

Thanks for looking. C&C always welcome.

Patti

A great series Richard. That last one is tremendous.

michswiss

#2 & #8 tell the story for me. #2 in a newspaper and #8 in the new flyer for the organisation. The set speaks mountains on the opposition to bullfighting.

black mamba

Superb documentary photos, Richard. Extremely well done....definitely imparted to me a real sense of the conflicts involved.

Kudos to you.

Tom

bfjr

Well done

rutt

Wow on these two. The rest work in context, except the dog shot. I don't like the areal photography in that case. I'd try to get the camera down closer to his level.

As to the text itself, I'd have liked more about the clash of cultural values. Bullfighting really does go way back in Spanish culture, but how far? There are those Goya prints, but I'm sure it goes back way further. I imagine there is room to tell this part of the story very sympathetically in spite of obviously being against bullfighting yourself. It's big money? Why? To who? And how old/large is the movement to ban it? Is it on a collision course with the establishment, or will things evolve peacefully? Are there violent encounters between pro and anti forces? If so, I'd love to see pictures. In fact, I'd love to see pictures of the bullfights or outside the bullfights of of the bulls/fighters/fans going to the fights and being confronted. Or not confronted, but proud. What about dead bulls being removed from the fights. If you want to make an antibullfighting statement, I'd think shooting at or near the fights would be the way to do it.

But those two shot, oh, man, you gotta be happy with them.

Malte

Richard wrote:

Bullfighting has long been a national embarrassment to most Spaniards...

Thank you for saying so, it makes you a fine Spaniard in my eyes.

But it's an embarresment to all human race. I feel personally embarressed to be a human being, knowing that whatever can be said, they too are humans.

I'll say no more. :cry

Malte

Awais Yaqub

Really like the coverage of this event.

Dog fight was cultural sport for a long time here, but got banned. It was shock for me as i lost photo opportunity

Richard

Thanks so much for the kind words, everyone.

Richard

rutt wrote:

Wow on these two. The rest work in context, except the dog shot. I don't like the areal photography in that case. I'd try to get the camera down closer to his level.

Yeah, the doggie shot isn't very good, but I thought it might lighten up the series a little. He was a frisky little thing, and when I did try to get down lower he promptly stood up and came to investigate my camera. Since the text was on his back, that made it impossible to read.

rutt wrote:

As to the text itself, I'd have liked more about the clash of cultural values. Bullfighting really does go way back in Spanish culture, but how far? There are those Goya prints, but I'm sure it goes back way further. I imagine there is room to tell this part of the story very sympathetically in spite of obviously being against bullfighting yourself. It's big money? Why? To who? And how old/large is the movement to ban it? Is it on a collision course with the establishment, or will things evolve peacefully? Are there violent encounters between pro and anti forces? If so, I'd love to see pictures. In fact, I'd love to see pictures of the bullfights or outside the bullfights of of the bulls/fighters/fans going to the fights and being confronted. Or not confronted, but proud. What about dead bulls being removed from the fights. If you want to make an antibullfighting statement, I'd think shooting at or near the fights would be the way to do it.

Whew, lots of questions. I'm not at all knowledgeable about the history of bullfighting. I have never attended one and find the whole thing so abhorrent that I don't think I could bring myself to do a serious documentary series on the topic. Critiques in the Street forum are as close as I care to come to blood sport.

As for the current politics, as usual it centers on money. The state gives huge subsidies to large ranches owned typically by aristocrats and supports the enterprise in various ways with tax revenues, which ticks off everyone who does not directly benefit. At the same time, local governments collect considerable revenue from bullfights, and don't want to lose the funds. Then there is the large tourist industry, which also benefits directly from bringing busloads of foreigners to see the "typically Spanish" event. Typical Spaniards avoid bullfights entirely. My guess is that it will be prohibited in some regions of Spain in the near term, but that it will persist in Andalucia and (sadly) Madrid for the foreseeable future.

There were no counter-demonstrators at the rally, and AFAIK, there never are at anti-bullfighting demonstrations. The ones who are in favor are in control and have no need to take to the streets. It would be like seeing a pro-Goldman Sachs faction at a financial reform rally in NYC.

OTOH, not all of the demonstrators were specifically concerned with bullfighting--there were also vegans and global animal rights activists and a few anti-royalists as well. I got a few pics of colorful characters on the (political) fringe, but I wanted to keep this report focused on the main issue. In fact, the hardest part for me was deciding which pics to show.

Nir

You saved the best for last!!

Richard

Nir wrote:

You saved the best for last!!

That's my favorite of the set. It doesn't stand alone very well, but after you've seen the others, it's works as a coda.

Wil Davis

Excellent set of pictures, Richard!

Nice job…



- Wil

BTW - Ghandi said “…you can judge a nation's morality by the way they treat their animals"

bdcolen

Patti wrote:

A great series Richard. That last one is tremendous.

Absolutely! Very nice work.

Richard

Thanks BD and Wil.

I don't know if humans are going to be around for another hundred years, but if we are I would bet that our current treatment of animals will seem almost unbelievable.

Flyinggina

Wonderful set, Richard. Bravo!

Virginia

rainbow

Excellent set of shots!

Just think of how much better they would be if you had stuck to your original plan and limited yourself to ten shots...

Richard

Thanks Virginia and rainbow.

rainbow wrote:

Just think of how much better they would be if you had stuck to your original plan and limited yourself to ten shots...

I don't know that I trust my abilities enough quite yet. But when I was putting together this post I found myself thinking harder about what I wanted to show than when I was shooting, and that's got to be wrong.

michswiss

Richard wrote:

Thanks Virginia and rainbow.


I don't know that I trust my abilities enough quite yet. But when I was putting together this post I found myself thinking harder about what I wanted to show than when I was shooting, and that's got to be wrong.

This is a really interesting point. I think it's extremely important to have at least some idea of what you want to capture when walking out the door or coming across a setting or situation. But once that's been set and you've viewed the scene through that filter, you also need to open yourself to the opportunities.

Maybe looking up or stopping to think every 10-15 minutes about why you're still taking shots can refocus the intent of the next set of images.

Justiceiro

With all due respect Richard, I tend to doubt that all support for bullfighting comes from a moneyed elite. Bullfighting takes place in Portugal as well, with the major difference being that it is done from horseback and that the bull isn't killed. (not that this makes it humane). A few localities, in the north IIRC, used to follow the Spanish fashion of bullfighting, but this was outlawed a few years ago. Nevertheless, there are a few locales that defy the ban. They are generally poor and rural, and aren't supported by any sort of associated industry. It could be that they feel their traditions are under attack, or that they simply like to do whatever the government in Lisbon tell them not to do, or both.

That being said, Bullfighting is genuinely popular. And I can understand why. This is how I described it in a post a few years ago:

I know that this sort of thing (bullfighting) stirs up quite a few intense feelings, and I don't want to get into a long discussion of the relative merits or vices of it. What I will say is this; before I ever saw one my opinion of it is that killing an animal for sport is quite brutal, and perhaps even brutalizing for those who view it. Much like viewing a state execution might be. I won't say my opinion has changed, but it has certainly become more ambiguous.

A couple of things led me to want to observe one- first was reading Hemingway's "death in the afternoon," which certainly gives one an appreciation for the complexity of the whole affair. The second was a Gallego friend of mine who said "you will never understand Spain until you understand the Bullfight." Quite a buildup, so I decided to go check one out as a sort of ethnographic project.

Having seen it, I will tell you that it is quite disturbing. But it is also fascinating, and certainly beautiful. It is spectacle in an older sense of that word, not as something garish and flashy alone, but as something mesmerising, ritualistic, and almost religious.

It is obvious, upon viewing, that this is a direct descendent of gladitorial games- from the form of the Arena, to the addressing of the crowd by the combatents, to the division of the tercios by trumpets, even to the "imperial box" and the appeal to the judges as to the manner of the killing.

I had considered afficionados as, at the least, hypocritical, as they claim to love bulls, but participate in a ritual of their execution. But, althouhg it is hard to juxtapose these two things in my own mind, it is in fact true. The afficionados demand that a matador kill cleanly and quickly, and if this does not happen, become quite angry. It is not simply a matter of the killing being badly done, there is a real sense of insult and a sort of moral wrongness to it. It is an insult to the dignity of the bull, and the crow]d; despite being there to watch the bull's death, do believe the bull has tremendous dignity. I have the feeling that I speak a totally different moral language than they do.

Whn I asked my Gallego friend afterwards about it he said "you kill bulls too. You just don't watch it being done." American society has certainly sanitized death. We get our meat in shiny packages. We cover our own dead with makeup and bury them as quickly as possible. We never really see dead people, or animals. I wonder if the folks in the Plaza are not, somehow, more honest than we are? Or I wonder if thye are just more anesthetized to death (later that week I walked past a body on the street, and no one seemed shocked or disturbed at all).

Regardless, it is certainly something colorful, and alien to me- therefore fascinating. And it is deeply rooted.

After the bullfight began, the protesters all came into the Arena, sat down, and watched the fiesta brava, without making a sound.

Isn't that strange?

Perhaps I am supposed to be PC and not mention the positive as well as negative emotions that warred within me as I observed, but the attraction was definitely there. Seeing a bullfight helped me to understand the attraction of it a great deal, as well as helping me to understand a bit more of my self. For the good, and for the bad.

As I said, a deeply disturbing experience.

WillCAD

Malte wrote:

Thank you for saying so, it makes you a fine Spaniard in my eyes.

But it's an embarresment to all human race. I feel personally embarressed to be a human being, knowing that whatever can be said, they too are humans.

I'll say no more. :cry

Malte

I'm never embarassed by the actions of others, only by my own.

I find bullfighting and other blood sports abhorant, too, but I'm not embarassed to be a human being, or an American, or a Marylander, or an Atheist, or a Caucasian, just because members of my species, my country, my state, my religion, or my race engage in abhorant activities.

Rather, I am proud to be who and what I am. I am Will. I treat other people with respect and dignity, I do not engage in cruelty to people or animals, and I do not support anyone who does.

The fact that someone else engages in savage cruelty, whether by bullfighting in Madrid, dogfighting in Chicago, or throwing rocks at tied-up puppies in Baltimore, disgusts me. But I have never done it, I will never do it, and I am not embarassed by the fact that someone else who chooses to do it happens to also be a member of my species, nation, state, religion, or race.

Richard

Justiceiro wrote:

With all due respect Richard, I tend to doubt that all support for bullfighting comes from a moneyed elite.

That's correct. There are fans left, but they are clearly a minority of Spaniards. Regardless of their numbers (reliable public opinion polls are very hard to come by on this topic), it is the vested interests that keep it alive, not popular demand.

Justiceiro wrote:

Seeing a bullfight helped me to understand the attraction of it a great deal, as well as helping me to understand a bit more of my self. For the good, and for the bad.

As I said, a deeply disturbing experience.

I would think so.

pathfinder

Great series of images, Richard. I did not know that most(?) Spaniards disapproved of bullfighting.

Are bullfights no longer held in Mexico?

There is a different type of bull fighting in Korea too - I didn't know this until I googled.

The comments about bull fighting being a direct descendant of the gladiatorial ring, certainly has the ring of truth to it.

Richard

pathfinder wrote:

Great series of images, Richard. I did not know that most(?) Spaniards disapproved of bullfighting.

Thanks Jim. As I said earlier, good polling data is scarce, but most of the data I've seen give it a 30% approval rating or less. None of my acquaintances here has ever been to one. BTW, the vast majority don't dance flamenco or drink sangria either.

Malte

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10784611



Malte

Richard

Malte wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10784611



Malte

Yes, very good news indeed.