The significance of bullfighting in Spain The Bull, the Matador and the Public
Struggling for breath, he makes his last charge towards the barrier, though stumbles five meters short. His front legs give up following haemorrhage from his nostrils; his voluminous body collapses into the sand dyed in the colour of his own blood. He rolls for one last time onto his side, now paralysed; he closes his eyes.
A minute later, the matador will draw the stained sword from his fatal wound. The crowd erupts into cheer whilst wailing their programs as a sign of approval. The matador bows, and the lifeless bull will be dragged mercilessly across the arena and away by two galloping horses.
This is a typical scene in a bullfight, prided as the national sport of Spain. However, in recent years, whilst the Spanish patrimony has ascended into international recognition and praise, its bullfighting heritage has generated nothing more than opposition. The pressure to put an end to bullfighting comes not only from international activists, but also from the Spaniards themselves, who are divided in opinion regarding this controversial issue.
The King of Spain Juan Carlos has been quoted saying "the day the EU bans bullfighting is the day when Spain leaves the EU." Yet his wife Dona Sofia is one of the most high profile figures who have expressed their anti-bullfighting views.
The singer Alaska has posed nude last year for the "Naked Truth" anti-bullfighting campaign and Andrea Bocelli's management team has announced that it will not use visual displays of bullfighting in any future events, describing it as a "useless exhibition of cruelty." Many have voiced their opinions and there are countless campaigns against bullfighting, but still, there is not a hint of banning the activity all together.
Some pay tribute to bullfighting as the greatest symbol of Spanish tradition; Ernest Hemingway praised it as an art in "Death in the Afternoon," but where does the interest of bullfighting lie in Spain nowadays? The bull? The man? For whom the bull fights?
It would be appropriate to begin from the bull's perspective, where the story starts even before he enters the bullring. In order to protect the matador, each bull's horns are "shaven" and their eyes sprinkled with salt. When the bull charges into the ring, he is immediately teased by twelve men simultaneously waving pink curtains in front of his sweaty eyes.
As the bull prowls about the circular sandpit, little does he realise the fatigue building up within his body. At the sound of a trumpet, two picadores (mounted lancers) ride in and publically wounds the bull at the spine junction with a long spear. The bull senses pain, attempts to head butt his enemy, all the while suffering from pain with blood pouring down his hide.
After the picadores leave, a series of banderos (flagmen) come into the ring and one after the other poking pair after pair of banderillas enclavadas (hooked rosettes) into the wound. The bull, still unaware of his fate continues to fight as the matador turns up himself, holding a red curtain, signifying the nearness of death. More teasing follows, as the bull's energy level declines to the minimum.
At one unexpected moment, the matador strikes his sword and pushes through the wound, paralyzing the bull, finishing his life. It can easily be seen that the bull is handicapped before the fight and is significantly outnumbered by opponents. Given the level of cruelty practised, there is ample reason for the upsurge of anti-bullfighting campaigns in recent times.
As much as they can protest, bullfighting maintains the livelihood of a lot of animals, for which I refer not to the bulls, but the human beings who are directly involved in the "industry."
The foundations of modern bullfighting were laid in the 18th century, and the activity has expanded rapidly ever since. There are over 400 bullrings in Spain, pushing the activity into an industry. Two types of human beings have an interest in this industry: the bullfighters and the breeders. These interests are of course, none other than economic ones. Top class matadors earn as much as, or more than a Spanish Liga (Spanish Premier League) football star, bearing in mind that a matador works far less than a footballer in a year: the current highest-earning toreros Julian Lopez (El Juli) and Enrique Ponce demand more than 100,000 euros for each fight.
As difficult as it is to become a professional footballer, it is relatively easy to become a matador: there are 43 registered bullfighting schools accepting youngsters across the country. Other than the bullfighters themselves, there is a lucrative business of bull breeding which stems from this so-called "industry-cum-sport."
Though not every bull makes it to the bullring, they are all scrupulously selected through a series of trials and mock fights at the early age of eight months. As for the ones who are not qualified, they are dispatched to the leather and food industry. Lately, with the advancement of science, bull breeders have begun to clone the best bulls in order to prolong their lineage. Suffice it to say, gone is the "artistic and aesthetic appreciation," bullfighting has turned into a profitable industry with an annual turnover of about 1.5 billion euros per year. But can this fantasy continue in the economically smitten 21st century?
As financial figures in bullfighting seem to entail a never-ending stream of zeros, one cannot help but wonder where the money is coming from. The immediate answer seems to be the public. Though not everyone attends bullfights, the Spanish government subsidises the activity with taxpayers' money every year. Judgment cast aside, the governmental act does shed light on the current health of bullfighting in Spain.
Normally, the half-empty bullrings are filled mostly with senior citizens. This demographic trend not only shows the old tradition that bullfighting is associated with in the country, but also a declining interest in bullfighting in modern day Spain. Eighty-two percent of young Spaniards have expressed little or no interest in the activity.
Disinterest, as usual, is also complimented by disgust, especially when public money is involved. Last month, more than 20 close to nude protestors arranged themselves into what appears as a pile of cadavers near the bullring in central Valencia during Las Fallas, where 90 bulls were killed in celebration of the arrival of spring.
According to AnimasNaturalis, the international animal rights campaign that organised the protest, more than 70 percent of the Spanish population are against bullfighting. Efforts to bring an end to bullfighting in Spain have not gone unnoticed either in recent years. Barcelona, the capital of the autonomous Catalonian region declared itself as an anti-bullfighting city by parliamentary vote.
Whilst bullfights have not been completely abolished, other towns and cities have taken the same stance. It is now illegal for children under the age of 14 to attend bullfights in the region. There is evidently a tendency amongst the Spanish population to act against the activity. Let us not forget that the public, as voters and taxpayers has the supreme power in changing the fate of the long tradition of bullfighting in Spain.
Hemingway notes eloquently in "Death in the Afternoon" that bullfighting, capable of raising a phenomenal amount of passion in its favour, will surely raise as much hatred against it. However, the writer has failed to recognised the singularity of Fate: opposite opinions do not provide any alternative from Fate.
With a wakening conscious in the dominant Spanish public capable of outweighing the limited number of characters in the "industry," the fate of bullfighting seems rather evident. So for whom the bull fights in the 21st century in Spain? The answer is unclear, but certainly not for himself.
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