Coda. From the Barcelona Olympics to Alcàsser: two images of 1992 and their afterlives

This article scrutinizes the recurrent presence of two 1992 media images in the Spanish social imaginary until the present day. On the one hand, it addresses how these images are in a process of constant resignification, establishing a dialogue with evolving social and cultural phenomena. On the other, it traces how a variety of media -- from music to cinema, from television to newspapers -- have deployed these images to perform a series of aesthetic and ideological interventions. Specifically, I first explore the presence of Spanish national symbols at FC Barcelona's Camp Nou during the Olympic Games' soccer final between Spain and Poland. I relate the utilization of these symbols to the current so-called procés of Catalan independence and the volatile political and social climate in present-day Spain. Second, I analyze the rape and murder of three young women from Alcàsser in the context of contemporary television crime coverage and the beginnings of such programming in the early 1990s. In this respect, I specifically examine the 2019 documentary series El caso Alcàsser in relation to the media's representation of crimes against women in contemporary Spain.

Coda. From the Barcelona Olympics to Alcàsser: two images of 1992 and their afterlives Articles