150 | nº 29, pp. 139-159 | doxa.comunicación
July-December of 2019
Portrayal of the journalist in Spanish cinema from 1990 to 2010
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
the newsroom. There are also journalists in charge of covering the news related to the business merger of the radio stations, and one of the photographers takes a photo of the two executives drunk and drugged on the floor. The photo appears in the newspaper the next day with the headline, ‘Chaotic presentation of the new radio station’. A whole range of reporters are on the side of the villains.
In El día de la Bestia, astrologer Cavan (Armando De Razza) is an influential TV presenter, eccentric and phony, who he has no qualms about deceiving the public. He is highly arrogant, as he believes that his program is essential. In his programme entitled ‘La zona oscura’, he is presented with a voice-over:
Voice: I now present to all of you the investigator of the occult, the magician of mystery, the master of the su-pernatural, the man who knows the present, the past and the future, the internationally renowned, Professor Cavan.
Professor Cavan: Today’s program is very special. We’re not going to talk about UFOs or miraculous cures, and we’re not going to answer your calls either. Tonight, we have with us a very special guest, someone we have all heard of, but only a few of us really know. I am talking about the devil. (TC: 00:22:50)
Everything is rigged, and 11-year-old Juan Carlos in introduced. He is asked how he is, now that everything has finished, and the boy replies, “I’m very well thanks to you and ‘The dark zone’ team. The audience sees images of the boy’s home where he is in bed, possessed, and Professor Cavan is performing a kind of exorcism. Father Angel sees the broadcast from a bar and decides that this is the man he needs. He goes to the TV station with the boarding house owner’s son and they chase the presenter to his home. The eccentricities continue in the home of the deceitful professor when the priest requests his assistance in contacting the devil to find out where the birth of the Antichrist will take place. Feeling pressured and having taken a beating from the priest, the magician invents a way of invocating the devil while he remains bound and bloody. “All of this is absurd! Don’t you realize that this is just a charade for jerks and shitheads to watch my program and buy my book?” A complete, nonsensical adventure of a television satire full of lies and villains.
Dame algo tells the story of Marisol Fernández (Natalie Seseña), who is forced to take a dose of cocaine and speak in front of the camera while a message at the bottom of the frame reads, “there have been deaths, and there will be more, so do not take your eyes off the screen”. The first image of the journalist is seen on the screen of a television set in an electrical appliance store at the time when a ‘homeless’ person, Benigno, is on the street, so he stops in front of the shop window. He goes to the TV station to talk to Natalia, but the arrogant journalist doesn’t pay any attention to him. Shortly after, he sees her on the street with the camera operator. She is desperate because there is no news that day, which is the moment when the woman’s bad character becomes apparent in the way she talks to her colleague:
Marisol: Nothing interesting today, and no balls either. We have nothing.
Benigno: Don’t you want to film the star of the day? (Benigno leads them to the door of the hostel where he kills a nun. Later, it appears to be a farce by the protagonist without any real deaths).
Marisol: Do you have it? (she asks quickly and nervously to the camera operator).
Benigno: Don’t you want the star of the day? Or do you want me to go to another TV station? We can kidnap the nuns and the suckers, and if they don’t get it live on TV, we’ll kill them all. (TC: 00:12:30)