Possessive Imaginings: Mazes in Black/Fire in the West
Standing petrified, in a circular universe, braided in rhythmic beauty, light beams, witnessing fluid air manipulated and maneuvered by a Spanish matador and his bull is spellbinding. This was my very first corrida, a Spanish tradition that became very popular in southern France during the 19th century. This Spanish, French, and Portuguese tradition has been traced to ancient Rome and to war strategies of the Moors against Iberian peoples in the 11th century. Many of the Moorish armies would set fire to the tails of bulls which would cause them to stampede. In the Corrida, there are six bulls that are brought into the arena. Each matador has about 20 minutes to perform, because after 20 minutes the bull realizes that he has been tricked and will no longer participate. As the bull is first released into the arena, there are about 4 or 5 matadors with very colorful uniforms (influenced by 18th century Andalusian costumes) and capes (capotes) which are used to trick the bull. The bull is aggressive, domineering, angry, and uses his sharp horns to slam into the walls of the arena, and behind the small wooden crevices where the matadors hide to escape the fatal blows of the bull. During this ceremony, the bulls run after the matadors and the matadors evade their blows by using the capotes. In the first movement of the corrida, the matador observes the ferocity of the bull. As the bull becomes more angry, two picadors enter the arena on horseback, and stab the back of the bull's neck with a lance. I've been told that his calms the bull down, but during the ceremony that I had witnessed, the bull trying to charge the man on horseback. After this, three banderillas (assistant matadors) enter the arena with colorful sticks and try to place them on top of the bull. In the third, and most controversial stage of the corrida, the matador enters the arena with a small red cape (la muleta) and a sword. In this stage, the matador attracts the bull with his cape, getting very close to the bull and often performing tricks from the ground and putting his life in severe risk. In the last movement, the matadors tries his best to trick the bull and weaken the bull with his sword and eventually kill the bull. The first time, I thought that this was kind of horrible. The thought of watching a ceremony for a bull to be killed, seemed very strange to me. It took me a long time to make a "decision" about the corrida. Was the corrida fascinating, was the corrida captivating, was the corrida disgusting. Who knows? I visited a farm in the Camargue that was only for bulls. Walking around, I realized that these animals lived in a place where there was very little automobile pollution, no automobile traffic, and they lived in open fields with space and freedom to run around and interact with each other. I did some research, and talked with the owner of the farm. He told me that in other parts of the world, many animals that are killed for human food are kept in very small cages without ever seeing the light of day, or having the freedom to run around in a field. The owner told me that he had incredible respect for bulls, as did all matadors. He felt that the corrida was an exchange and a struggle between man and bull, testing the limits of survival. At least these animals are allowed to live a very good lives up until the day of the corrida. I still haven't made up my mind about the corrida. The corrida is illegal in the United States, and of course, I am viewing the corrida with a western perspective. The corrida is very popular in Arles and Nimes, two cities with significant Roman heritage. What do you think?
Ryan Morris '08