The shift to national Catholicism and the Falange in the Second World War: The case of Garbancito de la Mancha (1945)

Abstract

This article analyses the political undercurrents running through the first European hand-drawn animated feature-length film, which was made in Barcelona in 1945. It was titled Garbancito de la Mancha and will be analysed at discursive, iconic and visual levels. The goal is to establish whether political events during the Second World War years as well as the early years (1939–45) of the Franco dictatorship are reflected in the film. After the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), two main political parties struggled to control the nation. One of them was the Spanish version of fascism (the Falange); the other was the Catholic Party (National-Catholicism). The end of the Second World War was to mark a showdown between the two parties for political hegemony. The outcome set the tone for the regime until its demise in 1975 with Franco’s death. Given that the film was made by key political figures of the period, the ideology of the film will be revealed by visualizing the myths and values for the period spanning from 1939 to 1951 when Spain pursued autarky (self-sufficiency).