Bullfighting
By Brianna F.
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The matador faces the bull, his cape fluttering slightly in the breeze. The enormous black bull charges forward, aiming for the vivid, flapping movements of the cape’s fabric.
This is a bullfight.
Bullfights have been occurring in quite a few countries—It is traditional in Spain, France, and Portugal, while Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Guatemala, and, more recently, the U.S. have all had bullfights occurring regularly for years.
Considered an art form by many, the bullfight is a deadly, dangerous dance between a man, called the matador, and the bull. The bull is a minimum of four years old and is usually several tons. The matador executes many passes with a cloak, appearing graceful and confidant while establishing dominance over the animal, which grows steadily angrier. The dance ends with the matador killing the bull with a thrust of his sword into the space between the shoulder blades, which severs the aorta. Sometimes this fails, and the matador has to use another sword to sever the spinal chord, just at the base of the neck.
This is all towards the end of the bullfight. Before this, the bull is stabbed with barbed spikes and taunted so that the matador may see how well the bull performs. Sometimes, if a bull is unwilling to fight, the president of the bullring will grant the bull a pardon, and it will be spared.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the bullfight. Those who side with the bullfight claim that it is traditional and the bull would have been killed for food anyway. Others state that while this may be true, the bullfight is barbaric, cruel, and torturous for the bull, which has no choice in the matter.
In order to make an educated decision, we must look at the history of bullfighting.
Bullfighting can trace its roots back to bull worship and sacrifice, which was iconic of the ancient Roman ‘mystery religion’ in the act of Mithras. It is often linked to Rome, because of the many man-versus-beast fights that took place. One theory is that it was started by Emperor Tiberius Claudius I when he introduced a very short-lived ban on the Gladiator games.
As bullfighting developed into the Hispanic culture, it started being shown in the public plazas of towns and villages. Originally on horseback, it evolved into the more dangerous man-on-foot version we see today. The modern style of bullfighting was introduced by a daring man by the name of Juan Belmonte, who is seen as the greatest bullfighter of all time. Belmonte would, in a very daring and dangerous fashion, remain within inches of the bull during the entire fight. Though he himself was gored on more then one occasion, matadors usually try to imitate his style. Bullfighting is still very similar to the way it was at this time.
Bullfighting was banned several times in Europe’s history, first in 1567 by Pope Pius V, then several times in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The bans never lasted more then a few years and were always abolished later governments.
Many Hispanic cultures look at bullfighting as their signature art form, a chance for the bull to show its bravery and strength before it dies. If the kill is messy, the crowds will look upon the matador with disfavor and he will be disgraced. They do not want the bull to suffer a cruel and painful death.
However, several organizations look at the entire fight as one long, cruel, painful torture for the bull. The entire point of the bullfight is to stress, exhaust, and injure the bull before killing it. The League Against Cruel Sports states that it is “A cruel blood-sport that causes enormous suffering to an animal.” Many other groups agree. Many hold rallies outside of bullrings, protesting the torture and death of the animals awaiting their fate inside.
So, is bullfighting simply a sport and art form, or is it a cruel, needless torture for another living creature? The Bullfight is a source of vicious controversy. It has a different meaning to animal rights activists then to those in Spain. It is one of those instances where the conflicting cultures simply cannot agree, and the differences clash so profoundly that it cannot be ignored. As a tradition which has been taking place for centuries, should we ban the bullfight and take away a source of pride for one group of people to pacify another? This is the decision that must be made.
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Bibliography
“A Noble Death.” Prospect. September 2008. May 4, 2009.
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10357
Bullfighting FAQ. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Tim Hardman. May 4, 2009.
http://coloquio.com/toros/timfaq.html
League Against Cruel Sports. “What is Bullfighting?” League Against Cruel Sports.
2006. May 4, 2009. http://www.league.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=1938
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. “Bullfighting.” Wikipedia. May 5, 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfight
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1 comment:
nice paper
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