The Secret to Catalan Political Identity in Ventura Pons's Barcelona (un mapa)

Abstract:This article examines the representation of Catalan identity in Ventura Pons's 2007 film Barcelona (un mapa). The discussion breaks down the daring, anti-objectivistic ways in which Pons revisits early Francoism in order to denounce the regime's essentialist rhetoric and counter its lasting imprint on the city of Barcelona. Special emphasis is devoted to the film's complex portrayal of those members of the Catalan bourgeoisie who supported Franco, a portrayal that foregrounds secrecy and the practice of cross-dressing as a fitting sociopolitical metaphor. First, the adoption of an anthropological perspective illuminates the dynamics of the massive religious events that allowed individuals to affect their adhesion to the Francoist state in public. Secondly, a Derridean examination of the act of cultural transmission in the film suggests that Pons invites spectators to experience the violence inherent in Catalan heritage in order to overcome its despotic hold on contemporary politics and culture. The conclusion argues that Barcelona (un mapa) centers often neglected processes of construction and performance of identity and opposes the notion that constructed identities need be "false."