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= Censorship in Francoist Spain =

Censorship in Francoist Spain became prevalent between 1936 and 1945, a time when Franco's regime imposed a repressive regime. Under an autocratic regime under Francisco Franco, censorship circulated primarily through systemic political oppression. This regime sought to suppress certain social and political behaviors among the Spanish public, often those considered uncivilized. Outside of state censors, others had alternative interests that led to their participation in censoring various materials. Censors imposed censorship mainly on two distinct strata of Spanish society, namely the Spanish public as well as the private lives of locals. Given the prevalence of censorship, Francoist Spain was also marked by a robust culture of resistance of censorship. In response to government suppression, Spain saw an era that subsequently fostered a culture of resistance, expressed in various art forms.

Various ideologies and political leanings were represented by the group of censors during Francoist Spain. Within Franco's administration, individuals might alter a text for clarity and quality, or rewrite reviews on grounds of propriety. Beyond the central government, other censors were able to participate in censorship in similar ways. For instance, the Catholic Church had made recommendations to alter viewing restrictions on film.

Post-Franco Spain saw elements of nuanced cultural and political expression among the public. As a result, shortly following the end of Franco's regime, many intellectuals and artists left Spain in pursuit of a new home where they could express themselves more freely.

Ideologies behind censorship

Franco's regime

In July 1936, a group of soldiers and civilians rebelled against the democratically-elected government in place at the time. Gaining support in small but concentrated parts of Spain, they embarked on a series of killings that they had framed as a "purge" in order to reform Spain. General Francisco Franco, with the support of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, developed a political narrative around the elimination of his enemies. As his supporters and fighting force grew in numbers and strength, the rebels were able to establish a foothold throughout Spain. Franco was appointed their leader, and by 1939 he had established a military dictatorship in Spain.

Role of translation

(Encompasses most forms of censorship

State institutions

Los Pedroches

The judicial area of Pozoblanco in the Los Pedroches was significantly affected by the conflicting social narratives in Spain even before the rebellion. During the civil war incited by the Franco regime, the rebels fought to eliminate mass movements that called for rural land distribution reform. The Los Pedroches, which was home to many smallholders and rural workers as well as a small population of landowners, became a target of the Franco regime's denunciation.

Individuals in the area fell under heavy legal denunciation following the establishment of the Franco regime. The Code of Military Justice, which facilitated trials for landowners' disputes, created a charter that allowed for denunciations under vague terms.

Franco's regime further encouraged censure of of small towns and villages by setting up denunciation centers, even extending this encouragement through newspaper announcements and government publications.

Culture

(Replacing cultural diversity with norms imposed by nationalist values)

Film

Censorship in Francoist Spain entailed both public censorship as well as private censorship. Both forms of censorship were imposed on the Spanish public to achieve two primary goals: to maintain a\

Implemented through a press law passed in 1938, Francoist Spain placed constraint on political discussion and conversations about culture. Materials went under tight scrutiny for elements pertaining to sex, politics and religion. Alongside censorship, Franco also employed propaganda in perpetuating a personality cult in an attempt to influence public perception of himself.

While discussing other important directors of the 60s and 70s Higgin-

botham draws a parallel between Ricardo Franco's Pascual Duarte and

Jose Luis Borau's Furtivos. The proliferation of guns and violence in both

films serves to underline the tribal nature of Franco's Spain, while the

two murdered mothers may be seen to represent "a motherland now corrupt

and cruel" (115)

Foreign influence

Latin America

I expected to find out (and I did) that the censors thought the works of Manuel Puig were “immoral,” those of Guillermo Cabrera Infante, José Lezama Lima, and Álvaro Mutis “blasphemous” and “pornographic,” and those of Julio Cortázar politically “dangerous” or “tending in the direction of the subversive leaflet” (Censorship Files)

For many censors, how Latin Americans used the Spanish language and talked about Spain’s historical heritage in the Americas became a litmus test. For instance, they praised Jorge Luis Borges’s El Hacedor [The Maker] because it “is a show-piece of his good and erudite literature” [“hace gala de su buena y erudita literatura”] (Expediente de El hacedor). Likewise, Adolfo Bioy Casares’s works were commended for being “well crafted” and “pleasurable reading” [“la novela bien construida . . . se lee con gusto”] (Expediente de Diario de la guerra). On the other hand they gave mixed reviews to Ernesto Sábato’s Sobre héroes y tumbas [Of Heroes and Tombs]: “está maravillosamente escrita, pese a la abundancia de jerga criolla y algunas incorreciones gramaticales” [“wonderfully written despite the abundance of Creole jargon and a few grammatical errors”] (Expediente de Sobre héroes); and they rejected Carlos Fuentes’s La región más transparente [Where the Air is Clear] on the grounds that it was written in “incomprehensible language” [“un lenguaje incompresible”] (Expediente de La región). Similarly, the censors did not tolerate any criticism of Spain’s past or present history. They argued, for example, that Fuentes often made “derogatory remarks concerning Spain” [“un tono de repulsa hacia España”] (Expediente de Los reinos originarios [Originary Kingdoms]), and that Alejo Carpentier explicitly attacked Spain and its Catholic values: “Se aprovecha toda ocasión para denigrar a la Iglesia con irreverencia y a España por su catolicismo” (Censorship Files)