The death of Death in the afternoon?

Bullfighting could be banned in Barcelona

“The Plaza de Toros Monumental is the last of Barcelona’s three bullrings to still stage “corridas” and even it struggles to fill a third of its 19,000 seats, often attracting more tourists than locals.”

“anything capable of arousing passion in its favor will surely raise as much passion against it.”

17 thoughts on “The death of Death in the afternoon?”

  1. The best bit of any bullfight is where El Machismo in the suite of lights gets gored in the gonads. Unhappily, it does not happen often enough to stop this barbarity.

    OZ

  2. Ah, well Oz, I agree with you. I’m not a great fan of this tradition. I understand the importance of this in Spanish culture but if the Spaniards are going off the idea, then I cannot help but cheer.

  3. Those tight pants can’t be good for the procreation of Iberians either, let alone their choirs.

  8. I always did enjoy seeing the bull win… The French and Portuguese had bull fights but were not as brutal. Perhaps there is hope for civilisation after all.

  9. Christopher.

    I really tried to understand the so called art and Hemingway was quite persuasive, but all I actually saw was cruelty, and tawdry showmanship. Bulls have no concept of bravery, art or whatever. They just die, and frankly the odds not in their favour. Tacky, and disgusting.

    Don’t even mention the horses!

  10. Anyway, I think that it will be harder to get it outlawed in the south of Spain, traditionally the home of bullfighting. I read that 24,000 bulls are killed in front of an audience of 30 million people. If nothing else, that really is big business!

  11. Sorry Minty,

    This should have been the first part of my comment.

    I have visited the Bullring at Ronda a few times, never to watch the bullfighting rather to look at the architecture of one of the oldest bullrings in Spain. All stone and no wood! It was interesting to see that the suit of lights belonging to matadors of times past were so very small. They really were very tiny people!

  12. Yes, Toc. I can understand the history and I’m quite amazed that Catalonia has voted against bullfighting.

    I really hope that it will spread but I fear you are right; it’s big business, but mainly from tourists in Catalonia. I suspect this is the case in other parts of Spain too.

    Not insignificant, I agree but I still hope that tourists may well agree that this is not what they want to see. Let’s face it, I doubt that many tourists visit Spain just to see a bullfight.

  13. “I doubt that many tourists visit Spain just to see a bullfight.”

    My thoughts as well. We live in different times. What was popular thirty years ago doesn’t work today.

  14. Good evening Ara,

    Personally, I’ve not seen a bullfight but from what I’ve read it seems a cowardly sport; fighting a weakened bull isn’t brave. A more fun experience is trying to ride a mechanical bull. Bring it on! 🙂

  16. Hello JW, and yes, the odds are really rather stacked against the bull; it never wins!

    It may die bravely, but it doesn’t seem fair to me, and I doubt the bull appreciates these subtleties somehow.

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