Truth, Justice, and the American Way in Franco's Spain

Truth, Justice, and the American Way in Franco’s Spain LOUIE DEAN VALENCIA-GARCÍA When Superman first arrived to fascist Spain from the planet “Crypton” in 1940, a year after the end of the Spanish Civil War, he was clad in yellow tights and a red and blue cape—the colors of the recently fallen Spanish Republic—and was known as “Ciclón, el Superhombre,” or “Cyclone, the Superman.” Initially failing to find a fan base in Spain, Ciclón disappeared after three years of sporadic publication. Early attempts by Spanish publishers to print Superman comics were censored for having either attacked Catholic dogma, morality, the church, the regime (or its institutions), or those whom had collaborated with the regime,1 thus leaving publication of such superhero genre comic books primarily to foreign printers. Despite his appearance throughout the 1940s in the less popular Argentine children’s magazines Bil- liken and La Pandilla, it was not until the regular publication of Superman’s 1950’s reincarnation, translated and published by the Mexican press Editorial Novaro,2 that the American icon was broadly popularized in Spain.3 While the Spanish importation of the American superhero certainly reflected American cultural imperialism of the post-war era, the fascist regime in Spain was especially aware of the capacity for Superman comics’ pluralistic tropes to subvert Francoist constructions of society, sexuality, and gender roles. Spain’s heroes were supposed to be José Antonio de Rivera, the founder and martyr of the fascist party in Spain, and the authoritarian dictator Fran- cisco Franco, who ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 19754; there was no room in that mythology for an American superhero. However, as Walther Bernecker has described, Spaniards of the long 1960s were experiencing a change of mentalitie, particularly visible amongst young people, that coincided with political, economic, and cultural changes in the second half of the Fran- coist dictatorship. In this period Spaniards migrated from rural communities to metropolitan capitals, experienced both a general escalation in standard of 45 46 The Ages of Superman living and an increased amount of tourism, a rise in consumerism, and increased contact with foreign popular cultures.5 The long 1960s in Spain engendered a period of tension between the old guard of the regime and a new generation of young people that had no memory of the Spanish Civil War—a generation that looked toward both Spanish pluralistic traditions of old and to a budding global youth culture. The primary battleground of this threat was found in everyday life; it was the regime’s intent to disrupt this invasion of foreign influences, one of these targets being Superman comics that seemed to extol democratic (and capitalist) ideals. Fearful of these comics, in 1959 the Spanish Ministry of Information and Tourism created the Commission of Information and Child and Youth Publications (CICYP), which was lead by Juan Beneyto Pérez, head of the National Press Council, and the Dominican priest Jesús María Vázquez, as well representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science, the State School of Journalism, the Female Section of the Traditional Spanish Falange, the National Delegation of Youth, and the Episcopal Commission of Com- munications, amongst others.6 After several years of censorship the Spanish Ministry of Information and Tourism decided to completely ban Superman comics in 1964 under the advisement of its CICYP because of tropes that threatened to delegitimize the regime through its publication of non-traditional values. Prior to the ban Supermán was the top- selling comic book in Spain.7 However, refusing to give up their favorite comics, young Spaniards continued reading Superman comics despite the prohibition.8 Aware of the ineffectuality of the ban, the CICYP consulted with the Institute of Public Opinion, to create a public campaign against Superman comics, headed by Alfonso Alvarez Villar, the director of the Institutes’ journal, the Spanish Journal of Public Opinion (SJPO).9 Alvarez’ role in this campaign is significant as his position allowed him to easily inform the highest ranks of the administration of the danger of the American icon. Further, the primary purpose of the journal was to provide the administration of the regime with surveys and analysis of popular opinion for purposes of state control; the fact that Alvarez himself took a lead role in these studies indicates the import of this threat to the regime. Two years after Superman’s prohibition, in an attempt to counter this threat, Alvarez wrote one of the most ardent attacks on Super- man in the SJPO. Most of the readers of the journal were high- ranking Fran- coist officials (and not curious academics) that would have been interested in public opinion for reasons of propaganda and state control; this governmental report, to which few eyes had access, formed part of the regime’s strategy to prevent the inculcation of counter-normative tropes in Spanish youth. The first forty years of Superman in Spain were tumultuous at best, as censors, religious figures, and sociologists under the dictatorship fought the The American Way in Franco’s Spain (Valencia-García) 47 importation of the American superhero because of the “threat” to Spanish youth that the icon represented, a hero that exalted pluralistic, capitalistic, democratic American ideals. So real was the threat that Superman represented to the regime that Alvarez wrote in 1966, despite two years of prohibition, “Supermán nevertheless continues prowling through the minds of our children, adolescents and even the majority of Spanish adults.... Supermán continues alive in Spain and it is possible that he will never die.”10 Alvarez further cited a survey conducted for the journal, reporting that 148 out of 150 children, ages nine to twelve years old, of “distinct social classes,” read Superman comic books, indicating that Superman was indeed still popular despite prohibition. Even as the regime was generally moving toward a less restrictive censorship policy, with the Ley de la Prensa of 1966, a provision included mandatory review of children’s literature by the CICYP.11 Alvarez’ assault on Superman was the just one attack in a larger battle against the Man of Steel, as this report was intended to incite a wider campaign against Superman comics. In his detailed 30-page study of the “myth of Super- man,” Alvarez vehemently attacked Superman. In fact, the CICYP provided Alvarez with their own collection of comics so that to further the campaign against Superman.12 By the end of the 1960s, numerous articles had been published in Spanish newspapers attacking Superman. Such drastic measures to curtail young people from reading comics was not only indicative of the perceived danger of these comics, but also points to the continued resistance to the prohibition by young people. Forms and Functions of Superman Comic Books in the 1960s Understanding Superman comics in Spain first necessitates a look at the social, political, and cultural forces that influenced American comic books published during the McCarthy era from which the Spanish comics were translated. In the 1950s, U.S. congressional inquiries into perceived “commu- nist” and “moral” threats to American youth prompted the creation of the self-regulatory “Comics Code Authority,” forcing comic books publishers to sanitize their publications, and conform to the political pressures of the era.13 As a result, many comic books of the period appeared not only overtly “Amer- ican” in tone, but skewed toward a representation of the U.S. that viewed its hero as being a “perfect” exemplar for young Americans—an immigrant fully inculcated with the ideology of his adopted homeland, living a puritanical, idealistic existence while extolling ideas of democracy, “truth, justice and the American way.” 48 The Ages of Superman For young Americans of the 1950s Superman idealized American excep- tionalism and puritanical tropes; young Spaniards interpreted these comic books in ways that differed drastically from their U.S. contemporaries. While Superman undeniably represented an extension of “Americanization” and cultural imperialism, the superhero also became representative of implicit everyday dissent against the Francoist regime. The popularity of Superman comics in Spain reflected a desire by Spanish youth to embrace democratic and pluralistic ideals. In the U.S., Superman comics arguably represented normative behavior, however, in Spain, the hero represented an alternative vision of society and politics. These stories that represented a hyper-idealization of democracy and justice, the hyper-modern city of “Metropolis,” and the nebulous- yet- hopeful “American way” contained subversive ideas that threatened the dictatorship. Tebeos, traditional Spanish comics, were lauded as being particularly “Spanish” by the regime; not only did most tebeos escape prohibition, but they also played into a national agenda that promoted “Spanishness.”14 Nev- ertheless, despite Superman’s prohibition, according to one 1965 government- conducted survey of some 700 boys and girls, Supermán was still the most popular superhero comic book in Spain, and the fifth most popular overall in the tebeo category. Further, Supermán was the second most favored comic amongst boys, behind Hazañas Bélicas (War Deeds). While Superman was less popular amongst girls, his adventures still were amongst the top- favored.15 According to the same survey, Superman held the strongest

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