Postmemory and photography in the Catalan miniseries Tornarem (2011)

Abstract

Abstract Taking into account that photography is a privileged tool of memory transmission, the aim of this essay is to analyse the role of photography in some Spanish contemporary audiovisual narratives. As a case study, the article deals with the Catalan miniseries Tornarem (Felip Solé, TV3, 2011), which fictionalizes the experience of the exile of Catalan republicans after the Spanish Civil War and, more specifically, the experience of those who enrolled in the Leclerc Division and led a central role in the liberation of Paris in 1944. As it will be argued, photographs help evoke historical events in the miniseries, thus recalling what Marianne Hirsch has called ‘postmemory.’ Along with photography, the (fictional) oral testimony of Garcia – the narrator and a character in Tornarem – fills in the blanks of memory of Maria, another fictional character who represents the point of view of the postgeneration. At the same time and appealing to emotions, the miniseries fills in the blanks of the collective memory of many Catalans who barely know the historical events lived through by republicans who fought for La Nueve against the Axis powers.