The Construction of the Spectacle: Professional Bullfighting

This chapter deals with the construction of the bullfight as a spectacle. In the courtly world, bullfighting was seen as a gift offered by the privileged to the population to demonstrate their high social status. But the nobility definitively abandoned bullfighting and its place was taken by other social groups: the rural nobility and the landowning bourgeoisie. At the same time, the working classes were incorporated as spectators. This transformation led to the unleashing of a civilising offensive led by social and political elites concerned about the moral effects of bullfighting on society. This concern is fundamental to the professionalisation of bullfighting and its conversion into a spectacle of commercial nature.