Introduction¹

The uses and gratifications associated with the consumption of television fiction are diverse (^{West and Turner, 2010}; ^{DeFleur, Ball-Rokeach, 1989}). While entertainment is its most obvious, hegemonic, and visible function, studies have shown how it is possible to identify other uses linked to the socializing role of the media. An important segment of the audience considers these productions to be realistic and credible representations (^{García de Castro, 2007}), which points to their importance as role models, but also to their ability to provide guidelines for interpreting situations, individuals, and even processes.

It is true that fictional texts do not have to follow the rules of rigor, accuracy or representativeness. However, resorting to historical themes, characters, settings and mise-en-scène, referring to current issues and affairs and using historical or political references sometimes seem to transgress the rules of fiction, and imbue the story with a certain documentary tone. This is the direction some of the most emblematic domestic fiction productions have taken in Spain. They have acquired the form of “historical drama/fiction”, in which this way of staging the past becomes a sign of national identity regarding their foreign competitors. Features such as realism, historicism, documentary value and national identity constitute their most visible brand image. They recreate the value of a people, the Spanish nation, as they faced and overcame well-known historical conflicts, suitably adorned by the resources of fiction. These productions ultimately point to the difficulties faced by a society and its ability to surmount them for the sake of progress, that is, as it moves toward the present in which the viewers find themselves. As well as being “historical”, these texts have a distinctly “female” approach. In addition to their noticeably melodramatic register, they star and target women and they are scripted by teams with a significant presence of female writers who reconstructed the history of Spain from a woman’s perspective. On the one hand, they bring the hidden role of women to light, thereby supplementing formal history lessons that hardly ever acknowledged the role of women; on the other, they use an anecdotal, emotional and familiar register that reflects “history from below” and is very much adapted to the language and interests of a large part of this gender group.

These products of historical fiction are expressions of popular culture and refer to specific social contexts. Spanish society has been slow to experience social change; in fact, issues such as the entry of women into the labor market, work-life balance, the salary gap between women and men and gender violence are now part of public, media and political agendas in Spain. The Constitutional Act for Effective Equality between Men and Women (^{Ley Orgánica 3/2007}) is one of the examples of how this process has taken shape: it defined the concepts of sex discrimination, sexual harassment and positive action, and established some actions to be adopted both in the public and the private domains in which women are in a disadvantaged position.

The concern about the limited opportunities for women has also become apparent among professionals in the audiovisual sector. The underrepresentation of women in major positions within the cinema industry and in festivals and awards, their strong presence in cinema occupations related to aesthetic appearance (hairdressing, make-up, costumes) and the lower funding available for productions directed by women are some of the dynamics that characterize audiovisual industry in Spain (^{Cuenca, 2016}). Institutions such as CIMA (Association of Women Filmmakers and Women in Audiovisual Media), which gathers some of the female script writers responsible for the fictional products to be studied in later sections, are working to make women more visible in this industry. In the Spanish Goya cinema awards ceremony, CIMA headed the campaign for increased presence of women both among the industry’s employees and within actual plots, in particular, in leading roles, under the motto ‘more women’ (#MOREWOMEN). This was symbolized by the red fans that presided over the auditorium in the cinema awards ceremony, as black dresses did in the Golden Globe and white flowers, in Grammy ceremonies, respectively. The ‘Swedish style’ approach, where strong measures (basically quotas) are adopted to achieve equality, is the basis of CIMA’s activist actions.

However, they do not only mobilize through the media; their daily activity can also be useful to improve the situation of women. More specifically, as producers of messages, they have the opportunity to promote a new image of women, whereby they can achieve greater power and a better position, and develop more modern social imaginaries. The next section discusses the latter aspect.

Hypothesis and methodology

This study analyzes three historical drama series made for television, which were scripted with a female audience in mind. The starting hypothesis is that the three titles, Amar en tiempos revueltos (2005-2012, TVE1), La Señora (2008-2010, TVE1), and 14 de abril. La República (2011, TVE1) provide an inter-connected interpretation of an important period of Spanish contemporary history: from the 1920s to the 1950s. They have all been broadcast by the main public television channel (TVE1), share narrative and semantic concepts and help to bring history closer to the viewer, albeit in its most reductionist and fictionalized form.

Their analysis will identify the variables that, according to these fictional works, explain the development and the subsequent socio-political and economic stagnation in Spain during that period. The important role of “ordinary” women in the construction of Spain, either from humble or privileged positions, is one of the major threads in the series.

The review will be performed following the order in which the series were broadcast: starting with the earliest and ending with the most recent. This decision follows the evolutionary approach of this study, as it also allows for the reconstruction of the process used by TVE1 to provide its viewers with the pieces of the historical puzzle. The three texts will be analyzed from a qualitative perspective, incorporating an interpretive reading and qualitative content analysis (^{Fiske and Hartle, 1978}; ^{Castello, 2008}).

Firstly, the formats of these television series will be identified: on the one side, television melodrama, as an eminently feminine sub-genre; and on the other, historical fiction, which recreates scenarios from a different period. Secondly, each of the formats will be described, identifying its main production characteristics, as well as information relating to how and when they were broadcast and also their audience ratings. Subsequently the analysis will focus mainly on the narrative characteristics of each production, with particular emphasis on the strategies used to represent history (^{Marcos, 2015}), the resources employed to add informative features to the product, and its semantic aspects (^{Montero and Paz, 2013}). Finally, the meaning of the female characters is discussed, focusing on the values they embody, the treatment accorded to “female” themes, and the characteristics of the stereotypes they represent. More specifically, the main female characters will be evaluated, indicating both their sociodemographic and narrative features, as well as the gender roles that they assume. A number of analytical categories devised by the author will be used for this purpose.

Emphasis will be made on the postfeminist dimension of these characters. Postfeminist movements, also called ‘third-wave feminism’, are those that articulate a critical review of the feminist ideology. They state that classic feminism limits the ability of women to make decisions and imposes male models, disparaging old roles such as child-rearing and housework. They argue that marriage, romantic love and motherhood are legitimate goals but should not involve renouncing freedom and social promotion. From this standpoint, they claim that there are no universal gender models or recommendations, but different ways of exercising femininity, and so are there various intra-gender power differences. They postulate methods to subvert patriarchy that are in contradiction with the most classic feminist recommendations: entertainment, parody, eroticism, aesthetics, and communication and interaction among women are praised as avenues for women’s emancipation and access to power (^{Baxter, 2009}; ^{Kaufer, 2009}). Therefore, in their view, women’s bodies can be an asset in upper mobility processes, an idea frequently reinforced by the media (^{McRobbie, 1994}).

Television melodrama and historical fiction

Television melodrama, which is rich in semantics and representations of women and has been particularly linked with female audiences, has been described as an “invisible” subgenre. The relative absence of categories of analysis and valid methodological tools for this object of study explains why there have not been more studies in this field (^{Mills, 2010}; ^{Geraghty, 2010}). From a narrative perspective, these productions that are “aimed at women” are usually constructed around one or several leading female characters. Their structures rely on intertwining subplots, in which the storylines develop with no clear denouement and unresolved conflicts (^{Kuhn, 1984}). They often feature matriarchal figures with deep emotional qualities, capable of surmounting all kinds of conflicts and adversities. These characters display extraordinary skills and abilities (beauty, great ability to learn, emotional intelligence, perseverance, determination, communication and social skills, problem-solving ability, high self-esteem, etc.) and they hold clear and firm convictions (^{Ellis, 2007}). Not surprisingly, comparative and transnational scholarship has shown how female characters very often embody more competent and dynamic values than those associated with male characters (^{O’Donnell, 1998}).

From a thematic perspective, romantic love and family relationships serve as the dramatic core, lending an emotional tone to the story. But this emotional perspective is also used to refer to social concerns that affect female viewers. Divorce, abortion, life and work balance, the difficulties of promotion for women at work, shortages, and economic crisis and unemployment are some of the issues typically addressed, on which guidelines for action and resolution are provided. Moreover, even if the main themes do not directly tie in with these concerns, they are approached from a critical and reflexive female viewpoint (^{Mankekar, 2002}).

Within these formats several recognizable sub-types exist. There are some stories that seek to entertain through the recreation of attractive and desirable lifestyles. Noteworthy examples are classic productions (Dynasty, 1981-1989, ABC; The Colbys, 1985-1987, ABC; Falcon Crest, 1981-1990, CBS) that usually reconstructed grandiose and opulent settings. They invited viewers to project their dreams and desires for luxury and sumptuous consumption, power, social success and romance onto the characters. For instance, attitudes toward the well-known soap opera Dallas (1978-1981, CBS) have been widely researched. It was rich in sentimental capital and obtained the emotional commitment of its female followers by recreating the personal and family universe of the Ewings through various social rituals (births, marriages, deaths, intimacies, disappointments, jealousy). The evocation of conflicting situations, behavior and feelings (love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, happiness and compassion, hope and hopelessness) led viewers to play an active role and make different readings of the story (^{Morley, 1992}). In soap operas such as Dynasty (1981-1989, ABC), viewers obtained gratification through the use of melodramatic pleasure (through identification with characters and situations), and ironic pleasure (by enjoying the story from a distanced and intellectually superior position) (^{Ang, 1985}). Its aesthetic and narrative excesses made this a revisionist and reflexive production, which criticized and took the rules of the genre to the extreme in order to parody it, and offer a much more distant and less emotional narrative (^{Ang, 2007}). Its message could act as an instrument for self-reflection and reflection about one’s environment (^{Katz and Liebes, 1990}).

Melodrama also encompasses stories that are much closer to everyday life and simply deal with more intimate, subjective issues (marital conflicts, separations and divorces, personal insecurities, dreams, goals, frustrations, etc.), relegating references to material wealth to a second place (Home and away, 1988, Seven Network; Thirtysomething, 1987-1991, ABC; Melrose Place, 1992-1999, Fox). More recent soap operas have added less common registers to these stories. Some productions specifically aimed at female audiences have opted for irony, parody and the absurd as a way to present the concerns and conflicts of women (Ally McBeal, 1997-2002, Fox; Sex and the City, 1998-2004, HBO; Desperate Housewives, 2004, ABC). These are far removed from the emotional and romantic treatment given to these issues in previous productions (“ironic structure of feeling” versus “tragic structure of feeling”), as they seek to appeal to younger women, with a higher educational level and with a stronger connection to the public space than viewers of previous melodramas. The use of dramedy as a versatile fiction structure, in which mockery is combined with melodramatic elements in a bittersweet mix, has shown to be a multi-purpose, suitable narrative device (^{Ang, 2007}).

There have been numerous melodramas produced in Spain. The first steps in these productions were taken in collaboration with the Latin American industry (La mujer prohibida [The forbidden woman], 1991, Venevisión-Telecinco; La loba herida [The wounded she-wolf], Marte TV-Telecinco, 1992; Primer amor [First love] Sonotex-Telecinco, 1993; and Pasión de vivir [Lust for life], 1993, Quality Media-Telecinco). Later, strictly domestic series that focused on national or regional cultural issues and concerns were produced (Poble Nou, 1993, TV3; Nissaga de poder [Lineage of power] 1996-1998, TV; El super, historias de todos los días [The supermarket, everyday stories], 1996-1999, Antena 3; El secreto [The secret], 2001, TVE1). Both their realistic outlook and their ability to evoke and connect with national and regional cultural identities seem to have been the keys to their success in adapting to the Spanish audience (^{Chicharro, 2011} and ²⁰¹³).

Television melodrama can also adopt an “historical” register and be set in the past. By merging with costume drama a story can be crafted that, in addition to the usual dose of excitement, offers hints of nostalgia. As it occurred with classic television series in the genre (Roots, 1977, ABC; Holocaust, 1978, NBC; MASH, 1972-1983, CBS) they reconstruct and reinterpret particularly tense episodes of recent history. Furthermore, through costume drama, especially during the 1980s, the values and images of the cultures in which the narratives were located were respectively imported and suggested, which contributed to historiographic imagination (^{de Groot, 2015}).

Some particularly realistic British productions are clear illustrations of this. They are strongly associated with the representation of particular social classes, affecting every day issues such as the family as an institution and their unity: Coronation Street (1960, ITV), Emmerdale (1972, ITV), Upstairs, Downstairs (1971-1975, ITV; BBC One, 2010-2012), Heimat (1984-2004, ARD), Downton Abbey (2010-2015, ITV), Call the Midwife (2012, BBC), Outlanders (2014, Starz). They tend to cover and bring to the fore broad social concerns, ranging from homosexuality to multiculturalism and immigration (^{Geraghty, 1991} and ¹⁹⁹⁵). They also may venture into their respective recent histories, using the family and the community as core elements and presenting strong, efficient and diligent women (^{Ty, 2014}). In some cases, special importance has been given to middle-aged female characters with ideological meanings beyond the “successful ager” (^{Tincknell, 2013}).

Historical melodrama has had a strong presence in Spain since the early 1990s. It was first produced for regional television (Catalan TV3, Basque ETB, Galician TVG) that broadcast only to specific areas. It has been an ideal medium to reclaim, promote and give visibility to the idea of an individual distinctive regional culture based on a shared language, customs and history. Noteworthy are the Catalan series Temps de Silenci (Time of silence, 2002-2003, TV3) and the Galician series Rias Baixas (2005, TVG), for they are the immediate predecessors of those discussed in this article. Their success was a prerequisite for the production of other series with similar formats designed for nationwide audiences that recreated the Spain’s history.

Conclusions

In historical drama, claims to representativeness are shown through visual elements such as sets, costumes, mise-en-scène. Narrative strategies, such as the recreation of public figures and events that effectively took place in the past and are recognized by the audience, are also used for this purpose. In this way the narrative is infused with a supposedly informative purpose, a “reality effect” that seeks to make it plausible, while in practice it entails an interpretation of the timeline described.

The texts analyzed here provide an interconnected and consistent interpretation of some consecutive periods in Spain’s recent history. In all cases history is presented in terms of conflict and opposition, by showing tensions from the perspective of “history from below”, and sometimes fights for power among the dominant elites. Romantic plots and female characters weave a narrative structure that reflects some socio-historical aspects of Spain’s recent history. The Second Republic, the Civil War and the first stages of the Francoist regime are recreated from the point of view of daily affairs and routines, in which women are given a key historical role, the truthfulness of which is questionable.

The female perspective in these dramas is hegemonic, as it is embodied in leading roles that largely point at how contemporary femininity should be, despite being contextualized in the past. The story focuses on female models that female viewers can identify and feel emotionally involved with, even though this is somewhat at the expense of historical accuracy. Hence, the conflicts of these characters are often anachronistic, as they reflect problems that affect women nowadays, rather than women in that historical period.

In addition, they show stereotypes that are far from the ideas advocated by second-wave feminist movements. These female characters do not renounce some of the most classical dimensions of femininity (romantic love, motherhood, family focus, etc.), which also strengthen their presence in the public space. Some of the essential features in the construction of femininity (sensitivity, empathy, strength, etc.) remain and are deployed in the public sphere, as these characters reach increasingly powerful positions mainly achieved through the use of their female qualities.

To a certain extent, the key to their success and empowerment is that they possess different characteristics from those of the male characters. Their advancement in the political arena is one of their major achievements. The leading female roles, in an upwardly mobile position compared to that of the leading male roles, display attitudes and attributes such as politicization and political commitment, the defense of minority political causes, the collaboration with the political power and the professional practice of politics.

Fiction provides a revision of history by showing female viewers a more complacent view of history, adapted to present-day values; one that is more intelligible and accessible, thus universalizing the post-feminist definition of femininity and giving it a timeless quality.