Publications

Queer Camp against Franco: Iván Zulueta’s Eurovision Song Contest Parody Un Dos Tres

Authors

Robert Tobin

Document Type

Book Chapter

Abstract

Iván Zulueta’s 1969 film Un dos tres: Al escondita inglès (One Two Three: Red Light, Green Light) offers one of the earliest cultural parodies of the ESC. Zulueta’s portrayal of the ESC is camp in the sense that articulates Susan Sontag articulates in “Notes on Camp” (1964). At the same time, however, the film offers a biting political critique of Franco’s Spain and post-war Europe, putting into question Sontag’s claim that camp must be apolitical. Revisiting the film’s campy critique through the lens of Walter Benjamin’s essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of its Mechanical Reproducibility, " one can also begin to rethink Sontag’s understanding of camp. Zulueta’s film provides an opportunity to see how national, European and global popular music interact in a cultural landscape poised between fascist Spain and liberal Europe. Optimistically suggesting a path for rethinking the political possibilities of camp and popular music, Zulueta’s Un dos tres shows how specifically the ESC can provide a platform for thinking political and cultural issues.

Publication Title

The Eurovision Song Contest as a Cultural Phenomenon: From Concert Halls to the Halls of Academia

Publication Date

1-1-2022

First Page

175

Last Page

187

ISBN

9781032037745

DOI

10.4324/9781003188933-15

Keywords

Iván Zulueta, Spanish cinema, Eurovision Song Contest, Un, Dos, Tres, Al Escondite Inglés, camp, Francisco Franco, fascism

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