La ciencia y la tecnología en la ficción audiovisual española

What image do Spanish films and series offer about science and technology? This is the question posed by a study by the Dr. Antoni Esteve Foundation directed by Pablo Francescutti, from the Advanced Communication Studies Group/Rey Juan Carlos University. After analysing the content of 11 Spanish films and five series released between 2015 and 2020, the first conclusion of the research is that science and technology have a small presence in the audiovisual landscape, especially considering that during that period 1,503 feature films were produced in Spain (data from the Ministry of Culture and Sport) and 296 series (according to the European Audiovisual Observatory).

“The insignificant size of the corpus identified attests to the scant appeal for the film and television industry of science fiction works and scientific thrillers set in Spain,” warns Francescutti, not coincidentally two genres in which science and technology play the leading role. “Of the series studied, only El Ministerio del Tiempo had enough pull to stay for four seasons; of the rest, only one was issued. These are not sufficient indicators to be taken as proof of the public’s lack of interest in science, although it would be worth investigating whether it could have to do with the lack of confidence in national R+D expressed in the surveys,” suggests the researcher.

The book Science and Technology in Spanish Audiovisual Fiction carries out a qualitative analysis of 11 films and five series with plots set in Spain and released between 2015 and 2020 where science and technology play a role: series such as Rabia (2015), El Ministerio del tiempo (2015-2020), La Zona (2017) or La Valla (2020).  and films such as Superlópez (2018), Segundo origen (2015), Durante la tormenta (2018), El hoyo (2019) or Órbita 9 (2016), which will be screened on October 6 in the Cinema and Bioethics 2022 cycle.

“The critique of the alliance of science with power prevails over positive judgments. The suspicion in technology is even more pronounced. Some artifacts and innovations are well valued [the lighthouse from the film Psiconautas (2015), the television from Durante la Tormenta, the time machine from the series Si no t’hagués conegut (2018), the vaccines from Rabia and La Valla], but most are shown negatively (the nuclear reactor in La Zona, the typical example). There are no hints of technological utopianism; deindustrialization and pollution illustrate the harmful potential of technification,” explains Francescutti. “It is worth noting that, of all the disciplines and technologies made in Spain, health research receives the most positive treatment”.

The book also includes an exhaustive historical review of the presence of science and technology in the local and foreign audiovisual landscape. “In comparison with international production, the delay of Spanish screens in incorporating scientific and technological themes is obvious. Neither film nor television abounded in biopics of researchers or realistic productions about science and technology, although from the 1960s onwards science fiction pieces began to be filmed. Under the dictatorship, television promoted a euphoric vision of scientific progress, producing some dystopian programs as long as they were not staged in Spain. Over the years and with greater competition, the small screen approached the questioning mood of cinema with respect to scientific institutions and scientific-technical innovations,” Francescutti summarizes.

A striking fact is that, despite the growth of scientific production in Spain over the last few years and the favourable attitudes towards local R+D of the population registered in the surveys, “there is a gap between these positive indicators and the poor presence and negative treatment of these topics in Spanish fiction”,  Francescutti concludes.

KEYWORDS | Scientific dissemination

Chapters