«La libertad de todos los seres vivos». Naturaleza, ciencias naturales y la imagen de España en la obra de Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente

Abstract

en relación con las ciencias naturales nos permite explorar detenidamente los procesos de generación, circulación y gestión de conocimiento científico-tecnológico en un contexto particularmente convulso de la historia reciente de España, el final de la dictadura de Franco. Con un enfoque centrado en las relaciones entre los seres humanos y su entorno, el trabajo multidimensional de Rodríguez de la Fuente, como cetrero, naturalista, activista y comunicador, aportó un excepcional componente científico-técnico a los procesos de transformación social, política y cultural de España en esos años. El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar cómo este componente científico-técnico estaba frecuentemente ligado, y entre otros aspectos, a la definición y contextualización de España y su patrimonio natural tanto dentro de sus fronteras como en el escenario internacional.paLabras cLave: medios de comunicación; patrimonio natural; ciencias naturales; conservación; franquismo; imagen de España; Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente.abstract: Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente's huge media output concerning the natural sciences allows us to thoroughly explore the processes of generation, circulation and management of scientific-technological knowledge in a particularly turbulent context of Spain's recent history, the end of Franco's dictatorship.With an approach focused on the relations between human beings and their environment, Rodríguez de la Fuente's multidimensional work, as a falconer, naturalist, activist and broadcaster, contributed an exceptional scientific-technical component to the processes of social, political and cultural transformation of Spain in those years. The aim of this paper is to show how that scientific-technical element was often linked, among other aspects, to the definition and contextualization of Spain and its natural heritage both within its borders and in the international scene.

The Changing Nature of Modernization Discourses in Documentary Films

“…Second, it sported a decidedly scientifictechnical character, based upon the expertise and rigorous work of both naturalists and filmmakers, whose crafts and ability to overcome difficulties, questions, and challenges were persistently insisted upon. And third, the authority that made it possible in all senses was explicitly conveyed through the presenter-led approach, where FRF himself embodied the combined roles of naturalist and filmmaker and adventurer, very much in David Attenborough's fashion in Zoo Quest (1954)(1955)(1956)(1957)(1958)(1959)(1960)(1961)(1962)(1963) or Jean-Jacques Cousteau's in The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau (1968Cousteau ( -1976 (Cabeza and Gómez 2012;Cabeza 2014).This,while securing the outstanding status of celebrity that had been constructed through all his previous media products, increasingly served as an advertising device where the combination of expertise and proximity provided meaning (education), pleasure (entertainment) and, importantly, a sense of belonging, which, in turn, was mainly conveyed through the way the presenter-narrator-expert defined himself and persistently addressed both his subject matter (fauna) and his audiences as "friends" (Tabernero 2016).…”

“…Thus, "Man" was placed at the center of the narrative, not only as subject, as it happened in several chapters of the three Series, where wildlife and anthropological content were seamlessly combined, but also constituting the specialists behind the television product. In this way, Man and the Earth was as much about wildlife and the relationship between human beings and nature, as it was about the practices of the natural sciences and wildlife documentary filmmaking (Tabernero 2016).Naturalists and filmmakers were insistently shown (always around him as director-presenter), and their crafts, challenges, difficulties and solutions meticulously narrated and explained, to the point of even devoting a whole chapter to the depiction of the design and carrying out of a filmed experiment about genetic determinism and its ethological implications (The Wise Vulture, 1978), where the specialists were as much the protagonists as the Egyptian vulture that the chapter featured. 4 All this, in turn, significantly played on the sense of belonging we have pointed out above.…”

“…As a prominent mass media, it was a crucial channel for the few individuals and institutions (the dictator himself, together with the military, the fascist party that served as political structure – FE de las JONS 1 –, and the Church) that made up the new leadership to propagate their socio-political discourse. Newspapers and radio were also important information platforms; they were used in private settings, but communal use was also widespread due to the fact that their consumption depended on access conditions, such as affordability or literacy skills (Jiménez-Lucena et al 2002; Guzmán and Tabernero 2016). People who for the most part were living in dreadful conditions during the immediate postwar period had to be able to afford going to the movies.…”

“…The development of science content was soon considered an essential goal as well as a challenge in the design of education strategies through television, as it was happening in neighboring democratic contexts (Boon 2008, 2014a, 2014b; LaFollette 2012; Gouyon 2014; Boon and Gouyon 2014). Importantly, and drawing from the notion that documentary filmmaking was the main way to generate the necessary virtual witnessing experience of authority, science programming based on documentaries was deemed the main source of expert-managed truths to be levied on the population at large (Alcalá-Lorente and Tabernero 2016; Tabernero 2016).…”

“…It was in the midst of all this, always through falconry, that he became acquainted with media beyond the printed press, where he had been quite confrontational with the County Boards for the Extinction of Damaging Animals and the Protection of Game ( Juntas Provinciales de Extinción de Animales Dañinos y Protección de la Caza , 1953–1970; Corbelle-Rico and Rico-Boquete 2008; Varillas 2010; Tabernero 2016), that he helped to terminate. His first filmmaking experience took place while he served as falconry consultant in the Samuel Bronston production of El Cid (Anthony Mann, 1961).…”