A recurring joke by Nacho Vigalondo every time a famous person dies is to add: with him the 20th century disappears. The obituary is one of the most unpleasant and cliché-weary genres that exist. When they are not self-congratulatory texts in which the protagonist seems to be the author of the obituary instead of the dead man, they are presented as an inane retelling of generic praise that could fit anyone. If they have lived long and intensely and have had time to go out of fashion, it can be said, with Vigalondo, that an era is dying with them. The 20th century, for example.
Another cliché also says that death makes everyone equal, although this is not true for television. María Teresa Campos died, a founding and fundamental figure of the medium, a presenter who invented a way of being and being. Among her many merits, she dressed the TV every day, even when walking around the house. Until she arrived, the programs were on Sundays and very busy. She came to Campos and the corsets were released.
It was right that a medium that owed her so much should give her all its attention and its best resources, but María Jiménez died almost at the same time, and her burial in a horse-drawn carriage in Triana removed the memory of the Malaga presenter. Campos herself would have understood that the broadcast had to be interrupted to connect with Seville. Float and flamenco beat anything, even the figure who made normal on television what was normal on the street. Two 20th centuries died this week. Two popular, individualistic 20th centuries with a charisma that in the 20th century many would have described as racial (in the 21st we no longer say those things). But two very unequal 20th centuries: betraying its own history, television has been faithful to itself.
You can follow EL PAÍS TELEVISIÓN in Twitter or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Receive the television newsletter
All the news from channels and platforms, with interviews, news and analysis, in addition to the recommendations and criticisms of our journalists
APUNTATE
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
#María #Teresa #Campos #María #Jiménez #death #equal