points and laughs

[Paulo2]

BBC:

Despite the dangers of their profession, top-level bullfighters are rarely seriously injured in the ring.

Getting it in the groin is bad enough!


Paulo

[bertie]

BBC:

Getting it in the groin is bad enough!


Paulo

pah - tis just a fleshwound

,

[CryingRock]

When I used to live in Spain I remember being surprised at how few Spanish people were actually into bullfighting. Most didn't seem bothered about it dying out as an art-form/sport/whatever.

So is it tourism that keeps it going?

[sam_m]

A lot of them feel the same way about Flamenco, from what I've read.

That's not that widespread anyway though is it - Andalucian rather than Spanish.

[frankus]

That's not that widespread anyway though is it - Andalucian rather than Spanish.

True, I guess it's totally different - one is a national sport slowly falling out of favour, the other is a regional folk music popularised by tourists.

Bull fighting also happens in France IIRC, near the border - so maybe it's regional too... it frightens me to say it, but: Mags will know more .

[sam_m]

I'd say perhaps the idea has been diluted and popularised, but I've never come across any real Flamenco over there - I suspect that's to do with knowing where to look though.

I don't speak Spanish, but I'm told the Andalucian dialect is so thick that most of the rest of Spain have trouble figuring out what's being sung.

[hungrymark]

So is it tourism that keeps it going?

A lot of people still go, it's just not really the national sport anymore, beyond being a nostalgic thing. I suppose the equivalent in the UK might be Morris Dancing. That's the way it appeared to me at any rate.

When I was in Spain though I lived in Madrid so maybe there was something of a capital city/cosmopolitan reaction against something that they have started to see as parochial and cruel. I'm not sure. Somebody with more experience of Spain than me might be able to say something about its popularity outside of Madrid and the big cities.