3. Profane Unions: Constructing Heritage from Anarchist-Bourgeois Romances in Ull per ull and Barcelona, ciutat neutral

Elena Cueto Asín examines the integration of anarchist history into Catalan heritage through anarchist-bourgeois romances in the Televisió de Catalunya miniseries: Ull per ull (2010) and Barcelona, ciutat neutral (2011). The dramas differ in their presentation of political and social struggles, and connections to local, national, and international events; however, as Cueto observes, both programs participate in recovering a heritage of social cohesion based on the union between two diametrically opposite forces in Catalan society of the late Restoration period. In both stories, a member Barcelona’s industrial bourgeoisie renounces money and privilege to identify with the ideology and ethics of the anarchists. She argues that these plotlines mark anarchism as a “museumizable” ideology that is conveniently absorbed as heritage, and so incorporated into Catalan identity.