Televisión y nostalgia. The Wonder Years y Cuéntame cómo pasó

José Carlos  Rueda Laffond; Amparo  Guerra Gómez

doi:10.4185/10.4185/RLCS-64-2009-831-396-409

Authors

José Carlos Rueda Laffond Complutense University of Madrid
Amparo Guerra Gómez Complutense University of Madrid

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/10.4185/RLCS-64-2009-831-396-409

Keywords:

television, historical fiction, representation, political culture

Abstract

From the start historical fiction had been functioning as a worldwide resource for television programming and contents. Concerning to dynamics and diachronic ways of development a couple of trends can be observed in re-constructions of the past of this sort. On a hand, visual resources tend to be represented by characters and scenes in the form of a diverse but affluent model that prevails in universal television products. On the other, formats show a clear confluence in terms of specific social and cultural treatment, local or national.

This paper explores two representative examples of historical family television series: the American The Wonder Years (1988-1993), and the more recent Spanish one Cuéntame como pasó (2001…-). In the pages that follow contents and profiles of each fiction will be analyzed from a theoretical point of view and a methodology that remarks proper issues and topics in order to establish historical events in which narrative is supported. Both sharing nostalgia and empathy as key forms of identification in television evocative stories and ways of approaching to different audiences, each one refered to distant geographical and social contexts.

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Author Biographies

José Carlos Rueda Laffond, Complutense University of Madrid

Doctor in Contemporary History and Journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid and Professor at the same University, in the Department of History of Social Communication of the Faculty of Information Sciences. There he teaches various courses on the history of communication and the history of the 20th century, as well as on film culture and television studies, within the framework of the Doctoral Programs. He has obtained several mentions of excellence in the Docentia Program of the UCM.

He has been Visiting Professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Faculty of Humanities), the Universitá degli Studi di Firenze (Facoltá di Scienze Politiche), the Université catholique de Louvain (Faculté de Philosophie, Arts et Lettres), the Université libre de Bruxelles ( Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres) and at the Universiteit Gent (Faculteit Letteren en Wiljsbegeerte).

At present, he has two research sections (Sexenios) recognized by the CNEAI (Ministry of Science and Innovation). He is an evaluator in the areas of knowledge of Social Sciences and Humanities for the National Agency for Evaluation and Prospective (Ministry of Science and Innovation). He also belongs to the evaluating committees of various scientific journals.

He is part of various national and international research groups and networks. His areas of interest focus on the relationship between communication and history, and, singularly, on: - The analysis of narrative strategies and practices in television and cinematographic historical discourse. - The history of communication and sociocultural history. - The history of television and political culture. - The connections between national identities, media and memory. He is Principal Investigator in the projects: - “The television look. Historical evocation and representation of political culture in Spain, 1977-2007 ”(Autonomous Community of Madrid-Complutense University, project ref. CCG08-UCM / HUM-4017). - "The television historical narrative: narratives, cultural representations and identity projections" (Proext-MICINN Subprogram, National R + D + i Plan, Ministry of Science and Innovation, project ref. PR 2009-0035).

He has published various works in indexed magazines, such as Historia Crítica, Alpha. Arts, Letters and Philosophy, Hispania, Comunicación y Sociedad (University of Navarra), Arbor, Goya, Historia y Comunicación Social or Historia Social, as well as in other publications, such as HmiC. Història Moderna i Contemporània, Bulletin d´Histoire Contemporaine de l´Espagne (CNRS), Contemporary History, Ànalisi: Quaderns de Comunicació i Cultura or Semata. Social Sciences and Humanities.

His latest contributions (2009-10) in international magazines are: - “Historical Representation in Spanish Reality”, in International Journal of Iberian Studies, London: Intellect, 2010 (in press). - (together with Virginia Martín), "Information, documentary and historical fiction: television readings on Franco's death", Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, London: Routledge, 11, 1, 2010. - (with Carlota Coronado), "Franco's television before the mirror: examples of the audiovisual fictionalization of television in Spain in the sixties and seventies", Razón y Palabra, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Estado de México, 2010 (in press). - (together with Carlota Coronado), “The television codification of the Franco regime. From the history of entertainment to history as entertainment ”, Historia Crítica, Universidad de los Andes, 40, I-IV 2010. - “Rewriting History? An overview of recent Spanish historical fiction ”, Alpha. Arts, Letters and Philosophy, University of Osorno, 29, II-2009. - (with Carlota Coronado and Raquel Sánchez), “The televised story. A recapitulation of historiographic narratives and strategies ”, Comunicación y Sociedad, Universidad de Guadalajara, México, 11, II-2009. - (together with Amparo Guerra), “Fiction and historical evocation. Singular Keys to Tell me how it happened and The Wonder Years ”, Latin Journal of Social Communication, Universidad de La Laguna, 64, 2009. - (with Carlota Coronado and Raquel Sánchez), “The immediate history on Spanish television: the representation of terrorism”, Global Latin America, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2-1, II-2009. He is the author of different monographs, such as The Television Look. Fiction and historical representation in Spain (Madrid, Fragua, 2009), Introduction to the history of social communication (Barcelona, Ariel, 2001), Images and words. Contemporary media and publics (Madrid, Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, 2005) or Television in Spain, 1956-2006: politics, consumption and television culture (Madrid, Fragua, 2006). He has been editor of the Ver Cine collective studios. Film audiences in the twentieth century (Madrid, Rialp, 2002), and Cinema, public and culture. The social dimension of cinematographic entertainment (Complutense University)

Amparo Guerra Gómez, Complutense University of Madrid

Doctor in Information Sciences and Associate Professor of the History of Social Communication and Propaganda in the Department of History of Social Communication of the Faculty of Information Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid.

Her research lines focus on political communication and the media image in modern American presidencies. At present she is part of the research project “The perception of the United States from Spain: analysis of Spanish historiographic and interpretative trends.

Case study for the history of international cultural relations ”(Ministry of Science and Technological Innovation). She is visiting Researcher at Harvard Kennedy School of Government (2005) and New York University (2008).

Her recent posts include Jimmy Carter and the new Democratic image. Presidential leadership and electoral communication strategies for the XXI century, Málaga, Sepha, Ediciones, 2008, and “Be tasteless, lean on a cane. On medical types and stereotypes in House ”, Open Area (Madrid) 16 (March 2007), Faculty of Information Sciences of the UCM.

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