«I don’t think it would be possible today to have a weekly newspaper with bad speeches like El Papus. Even though we are reliving a context of dissatisfaction and disillusionment with the political class, the late Franco has no hope left for change. Society is extremely polarized, living in echo chambers and not exposed to laughter as a social catharsis of the shortcomings of both parties,” reflects María Iranzo-Cabrera.
María Iranzo-Cabrera, Professor of Journalism at the University of Valencia, recently published El Papus (1973-1987). Informative counterforce in Spanish Passage, an article that analyzes the political context in which this newspaper emerged and the path it followed until its eventual disappearance due to economic difficulties in 1987. This end, too ordinary for a heroic magazine that had overcome fines, dossiers, kidnappings and threats from the far right, finally came to pass on the afternoon of September 20, 1977. That day, several men handed a briefcase to the building’s doorman so he could send it to the publishing director, Xavier de Echarri. Before he could complete the mission, the explosive inside the briefcase exploded, killing the doorman and injuring 18 people. Among them was the weekly magazine’s pregnant telephone operator, Rosa Lorés.
«The attack resulted in the disintegration of El Papus’s team, which was its greatest success. The moment Óscar Nebreda, Gin and Ivà left the magazine marked the beginning of the publication’s decline. On the occasion of the special issue published after the bomb, the trio demanded not to profit from this tragedy and became angry with the management of the weekly magazine for increasing its circulation. Although coach Carlos Navarro denies that this increase took place, the truth is that Juan Peñalver’s death created a trauma in the team. On the one hand, explosives caused far more damage than a pen could convey; On the other hand, a person they admired who was not the author of the jokes had died,” explains Iranzo-Cabrera.
In the early 1970s major publishing houses were located in Barcelona. One of these was ELF Editores, owned by the Godó Group, which sponsored the launch of the satirical sports magazine Barrabás in 1972. Its success was such that the publisher suggested creating a similar publication. Following this assignment, in 1973 Ramón Tosas Ivà and Òscar Nebreda designed a magazine based on political satire, which they called El Papus, in reference to Papu, a monster in Catalan mythology dedicated to frightening children. The economic strength of the Godó Group allowed the magazine to be launched in style. In addition to television commercials starring Argentinian comedian Joe Rígoli, advertisements were also placed in different media outlets; This meant that the magazine had already received its first sanction a month before it appeared on newsstands, and many more followed, some of which were traded. by military authority.
military trials
«El Papus was subjected to two military trials for daring to criticize the military establishment on its covers. The first of these, number 32, referred to the military hierarchy’s alleged involvement in the corrupt Lockheed conspiracy. The second, number 33, parodied former warriors maimed in the Civil War during celebrations of the first anniversary of Franco’s death. We are talking about 1976, and for the cartoonists who starred in those covers and papunovelas – who themselves loved to embellish and dramatize these parodies – this meant house arrest and periodic court-martials. Jordi Amorós, who signed as JA, was summoned to a third military trial between September and October 1977, but this apparently never took place. This event would occur just a few days after the briefcase bomb exploded in the editorial office; This was a scare planned by the far right and was subverted precisely because of this criticism of the military.
Gerardo Vilches, author of Satirical Transition, although it has often been said that El Papus softened his line with the attack. The majority of political humor magazines in Spain (1975-1982) reject this. «Criticism against the far right and the Ucedista Government continued. They were actually quite radicalized in terms of their vision of the political system and the character of the transition period, which they considered to be little more than a paripé. Although the later rivalry with El Jueves hurt them, what actually happened was that they didn’t want to read that Spanish society had changed, that there wasn’t as much interest in politics anymore, and that disillusionment caused many people to settle down and move on. of everything: progressive was replaced by passota as the social stereotype symbol of the time.
From illusion to disenchantment
As Iranzo-Cabrera explains throughout his article, in the first months of El Papus the editorial office was a powder keg of hopeful young people demanding political change. First of all, the end of the Franco regime and then the decriminalization of adultery, amnesty, recognition of political parties, women’s rights and the LGTBI community, and the approval of abortion and divorce.
“As some cartoons point out, they could even tolerate the monarchy in exchange for all these freedoms. But as the Transition process progressed and a pact of silence was established between the parties, not only did the promised change slow down, but the magazine even faced the threat of closure for its erotic impudence,” says María Iranzo. -Cabrera also points out other reasons hindering the viability of El Papus. For example, the incorporation of graphic comedians into traditional newspapers, the emergence of other satirical newspapers, and the appearance of general information magazines such as Interviú from Grupo Zeta on newsstands.
“At that time, El Papus allowed citizens to really know who made up the fledgling Parliament and revealed the Francoist essence of those who presented themselves as new MPs. To achieve this, he used so much creativity, bad language, colloquialisms and subliminal messages that it took over the society of that time. However, Interviú, which went on sale during the period coinciding with the second four-month closure of El Papus, offered them the same exposure and also exclusive information. “In the end, his investigative journalism and sensationalism took away a significant portion of the satirical weekly magazine’s audience,” Iranzo-Cabrera explains, citing wear and tear in addition to this loss of public favor and decline in sales. Legal action was taken on behalf of the company and the comedians to convict those responsible for the attack. The fight is economic and emotional, a fight in which neither the PSOE Government, nor the police, nor the judges are fully in favor of this work.
In the first sentence, National Court judges Bienvenido Guevara, Luis Fernando Martínez and Juan García-Murga considered that there was no evidence to convict the defendant, going so far as to call him “only reprehensible.” He is overstepping his limits in defending his ideology by going so far as to make explosives against people with Marxist ideology. Although a second investigating judge, Alfredo Vázquez Rivera, was later appointed to resolve errors in the first trial, the defendant remained uninvestigated, which led to the suspension of Vázquez Rivera at the request of El Papus’ lawyers, albeit with few consequences. Carlos Navarro recalled: Vázquez Rivera “summoned Xavier de Echarri and me and advised us to stop pursuing those responsible for the bomb and declare the state affiliate responsible.” “I think we should accept the offer now.”
“During the transition, satirical magazines were another cultural influence moving in a progressive direction and breaking away from the Franco regime. “I think it is very important that it transcends social norms and breaks taboos, especially in satire and humor,” explains historian and cultural critic Gerardo Vilches, who points out an interesting paradox in favor of civil rights in this work: abusive and sexist language, the use of women as a joke and humorous motif, and Homophobic references abound.
«This is the big theme of El Papus and other magazines cut from the same mould. Funny remarks, open use of women as part of men’s pleasure rather than as autonomous subjects, and jokes that, from today’s perspective, are racist, homophobic, or at least seem to us… That’s it,” Vilches explains. after touching on this undeniable reality, it is a points out that it needs to be put into context.
“In Spain in the 70s, making jokes about racist stereotypes was something that was fully accepted and not censored by either progressives or conservatives. Other things were more controversial. For example, the way they treated women was already being criticized at the time by feminist associations such as Feminist Vintained, but of course their audience was overwhelmingly male and, let’s say, not very deconstructed at the time. “Writers like Ja and Ivà, on the other hand, can seem very wild when they joke with groups like sex workers and LGTBI+ individuals, but when viewed in their context, these jokes mean they don’t treat them normally, integrate them and them into their humorous delivery,” he argues.
“This was exactly the paradox of El Papus: a demand for women’s rights using the language and sexist stereotypes of the time,” explains María Iranzo-Cabrera. The magazine gave voice to women who took the reins and decided to change the traditional female roles that the Catholic hierarchy still defends today, and criticized machismo and the so-called masculinity of the Spanish man. But at the same time, unfortunately, he expressed this in a rude and disgusting way on some covers and cartoons. As in every analysis, we cannot ignore the sexist context of this society, which first became aware of feminism in Spain.