The Black Legend: Postmodernity, the Latin American politique and cinema’s role in historical revisionism

The Black Legend, the ‘truth’ surrounding Spanish atrocities in Latin America, has become a central point of both Spanish and Latin American modern national identities. Much of the present academic focus revolves around re-examining the Conquest itself and the constructing of Conquest narratives after the Reformation and the 1898 war between the United States and Spain. This is particularly relevant in Hollywood and wider cinematic representations of Spanish colonialism. However, the debate remains mired in Modernist considerations of historical ‘truths’ and ‘absolutes’. In a postmodern world, however, these are no longer possible, meaning the debate must move away from a search for ‘truth’ to an examination of the political implication of the rising multiplicity of narratives.

Black Legend historical revisionism is, presently, decidedly popular in the Spanish ‘national’ consciousness. However, Black Legend (cinematic) historiography within Spain only examines the methods and reasons for its own construction, thus, confining itself within modernist historiography. Postmodernity’s challenging of grand narratives and celebration of multiple voices questions the possibility of a defined, singular, Spanish national consciousness and, inevitably, forces the Black Legend’s historical revisionism towards Latin America. The United States is the modern, hegemonic metanarrative, a narrative disseminated through Hollywood and the cinematic lens. Given Latin America’s historical, geographical, and political proximity and shared Western Hemispheric experience over five centuries – Latin Americans are the shared yet contrasting narrative. Postmodern historical revisionism, therefore, resides most powerfully and politically within Latin America.