Bull Fighting in Spain - Essay Example

Bull Fighting in Spain Bullfighting for most Spaniards is seen as a demonstration of brilliant artistry. It is considered a test of masculinity due to its presentation in the art of dominance and grace. The popularity of the sport gained international momentum in 1957 when Osborne, a distillery owner, commissioned a team of artist to create an advertisement for his distillery. The structure was a twenty three foot bull made of metal pieces that where fitted together in a jig saw puzzle form. However, later in the nineteen sixties, the government issued a federal warning stating that, advertisements that were less than 400 feet from the road side where to be removed. Osborne took the challenge and engineered a twenty three foot, nine thousand pound bull. It became an instant landmark. The bull, like many other advertisements around the Spanish country side, where part of an intricate cultural display that attracted foreigners and kept the country’s identity. It was categorized among other cultural phenomenon such as Escorial, the Acueduct, Giralde, and the flamenco show all of which are major tourist attractions in Spain (Garry, 28). Today there are over 90 Osborne bulls around the country serving as land marks and tourist attraction all over the country. During legislative crack down on the relevance of the Osborne bull since it stopped being associated with the distillery anymore, it was revered as not only an advertisement or a tourist attraction, but also a true representation of the Spaniards’ culture of bull fighting. The culture is so wide spread around the country and so deeply embedded within the society that go as far as embossing on clothing, mugs among other decorative objects. Regional mascots can be found around the country giving the sport the recognition and passion it requires. Nevertheless, bullfighting has not been accepted with open arms because it can be seen as animal cruelty since the bull is “tortured” before it is killed. Animal activists all over the world have come up with reason after reason have the practice banned in Spain. In Catalonia, for instance, they consider this behaviour uncivilized and are more often than not protesting against it at their Spanish Embassy. They posse an ethical challenge insisting that no human with their limit of morality would go through the process of bull fight and come out unscathed (Bradley, 34). Before the bull is put into the ring or corrida it has to undergo cruel three steps, also known as tercio, to ready it for the oncoming spectacle. In the first step, tercio de varas, the matador’s assistant tires out the bull by chasing it around with a cape to prove him. Once the bull is tired, its upper body is plunged by lancers by two riders on horse backs. The second step, tercio de banderillas, is executed after where the bull is chased by three banderilleros who spear him with two colorful wooden harpoons, banderillas. After six banderillas are logged into the bull’s neck, the tercio de muleta begins. This is the main event, a matador enters the ring with a red cape and a sword and he makes methodical passes at the bull before he delivers the death blow by thrusting the sword into the bull’s heart or throat. More so often the kills are not clean so it has to be done repetitively. After that the bull’s spinal cord is severed by a team member leaving the bull paralyzed and dying slowly (Garry, 45). This morbid display is what puts most people off bullfighting. Activists argue that it goes human nature to be proud of such displays of cruelty towards a creature that has one no harm. The emotional trauma experienced during this shows is enough to cripple one’s development. In Barcelona, bullfighting has been banned for children under the age fourteen since 1997 (Hans, 12). This motion was passed due to the amount of blood, gore and violence witnessed during these fiascos, the bill was later mortified to show that even fourteen year olds are to be accompanied by their parents in the event that they are going to watch this shows. The innocence of the bull is another factor that most activists focus on. They argue that the nature of the cruelty directed toward the bull is uncalled for. The Spanish anti bullfighters’ slogan, "Torture is neither art nor culture" is directed towards all those who dare defend the art of bullfighting with culture (Bradley, 42). In their opinion, the fate of the bull is not limited to culture but to those who are too barbaric to understand that you can to harm someone or something just for the sake of entertainment. In 2007, an International Movement against Bullfighting representative described this bullfighting shows as “barbaric shows, and relics of the Dark Ages” (International Movement against Bullfights, 13). According to most Spaniards, bullfighting is nothing but a matter of protecting traditions. According to polls, about sixty percent of Spaniards do not care for bullfighting however only around forty percent of them want to have the sport banned. Some Spaniards deeply hold on to the myth that the bull is doing nothing but playing its fate it being the reincarnation of rage and savagery awaits its encounter with man. A famous bullfighter Christina Sanchez further justified this belief when she said, “They are brave, born to die in the ring and help create an act of art with a person.” Supporters of bullfighting often link its origin to that of the Minotaur being killed by the Greek. Over thirty five thousand years ago, in France and Spain, cave walls where found depicting earlier human civilizations that paid veneration to a six foot bull that appeared to be a totemic symbol of worship (Fiske-Harrison, 22). In the Egyptian civilization, the bull god Apis was considered the most important divinity in their existence. However, the bulls where later on domesticated in Crete where they were used for entertainment within the palace where athletes attempted to jump over their horns. By the Roman period, bulls like every other animal where hunted due and killed in the name of entertainment due to their deterioration in their respectful status. Other sympathizers of the sport argue the on the environmental and physical potential of the art. They consider bullfighting as a sport that requires finesse and involves pumping of adrenaline in the blood stream hence should be considered a sport on its own right. The fact that one needs to train to get to the level where they can actually slay a bull one has to be in top physical shape and brilliant if they wants to survive (Fiske-Harrison, 23). The bull on its own also does not have many economic benefits and are cumbersome to breed. In the event that the sport is banned internationally then the current bull population will undoubtedly suffer and might get extinct. It is not the question of animal protection since one can argue that pandas for instance are protected but we have direct economic use for them. Bulls have no aesthetic value to most people and can be easily substituted for other animals except for bull fights. They are nearly impossible to domesticate because they grow stronger in age hence have no direct value on a farm. Additionally, the life time of a bull is spent in better conditions than most animals before they die, they are well fed and left to roam free unlike cows which are locked up and manipulated to get milk before they are killed (Black, 19). Bullfighting stopped being exclusively for royals in 1974 when commoners started vaulting over bulls using small spears and rags to sidestep them on foot. Corridas were soon afterwards established to enable interested parties to watch the sport. The influence spread all over Latina countries like Mexico, Portugal, Venezuela and Columbia not withstanding southern France. Today in Spain there are over 400 corridas each with a holding capacity of from one thousand five hundred to twenty thousand and it is estimated that over forty thousand bulls are killed each year in the sport. Unlike Spain the United States of America does not have traditions that support animal cruelty. They were horrified when they learnt of some of the acts debuted during Spanish fiestas. They where mortifies up the discovery of events like that in the Villanueve de la Vera where a donkey is dragged in the middle of the streets by drunken revelers and bitten to pulp. Another one is where they would wrestle a horse to the ground only to cut off its mane and tail (International Movement against Bullfights, 6). Among Spaniards such levels of cruelty are introduced to them at a very young age so they grow up with that mentality however, in the United States this is considered new hence it is rejected. The Spanish culture views bullfighting as rich in its tales, metaphysical drama and art. Bullfighting is not just a sport that comes to be enjoyed by foreigners; but a chance for the Spaniards to reconnect with their ancestry. They do not dwell on the violence in the act but in that point of redemption where one lives in the face of death (Garry, 22). Diego OBolger, a long term bull fighter, mythologizes bullfighting with the act of having dominance over nature. He said that it involves one taking nature’s brute force when a bull charges and with one’s body and the cape they change it and produce something artistic. While the rest of the world might not understand the true beauty behind bullfighting, they can at least appreciate the effort it takes for one man to bring down a bull even in its weakened state. The sport is also no for naught, after the session is over, the bull is taken to the slaughter house where its meat is inspected before it is distributed. Since the owners do not want to go at a loss, they give the young bull the most care possible before they are sent to the ring. This way, one can make profits both at the ring and the slaughter house making bull fighting a sport worth keeping (Black, 16). Work Cited Black Dopico, G. "The Ban and the Bull: Cultural Studies, Animal Studies, and Spain." Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies. 11 (2010): 235-249. Print. Bradley Erickson. Sensory Politics: Catalan Ritual and the New Immigration.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology: California. University of California Press Pub. 2008. Pp 296. Print Hans Gumbrecht U. In 1926 - Living on the Edge of Time: Cambridge. Harvard University Press, 1998. Print. International Movement against Bullfights. 2007. Accessed from www.iwab.org/intro.html on 24 September 2007. latortura.es. 2006. Print Garry Marvin. Bullfight. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 1988. Print Fiske-Harrison Alexander. Into The Arena: The World of the Spanish Bullfight: London. Profile Books, 2011. Print Read More