Writtens

The story of a tit

I remember it had been built by Manolo Martín, the figures (satirical papier mâché effigies) were by that great artist called Sento, and I think even our Francis Montesinos had dressed them. There was great bedlam in the air when Manuel Vicent joked, at the time I thought it was a joke, saying I could design next year’s, that I might have an idea.

“I don’t know, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head”. I remember answering. However, one suddenly came to me, the way ideas for films come to me, it was crazy and, at first, it even seemed grotesque. Without further ado, I answered: “Well, how about designing an enormous tit, a huge one that took up the whole square”. “Brilliant. Brilliant.” I remember Manolo saying. Moments later we were telling Ricard about it. At that time he was the mayor. He thought the idea was hilarious and gave us the go-ahead. I started to develop the idea right there, asking Manolo Vicent and the constructor himself to take part in it. From that moment on, something that had started almost as a joke suddenly became an institutional idea.

I started to wonder about the contents of the tit. I had a dichotomy thinking of the importance of the container and the content. What was more important, the tit on the outside or what it could contain? Because, in the end, an enormous tit is like a tent, and under that enormous tit there could be an endless number of things. Within the various possibilities that arose that night, I remember the most general one, which was that a lot of events related to eroticism, such as film showings, erotic-musical spectacles, exhibitions, etc. could be held inside. But all that could break the tradition of the fallas so I left it aside. Then, I remembered the traditional content of the fallas, their playful and ironic aspects, even the most histrionic ones, such as criticism, the analysis or dissection of reality from the view of the ironic estrangement, that was how politics, economy, culture, in short, all social activities, would be dealt with.

The first questions that arose then also come to memory now. Who suckles from that breast? I decided a lot of people did, today I would even say too many. I would represent all of them as a trail of ants, like the occupation columns, or as if it were an elephant herd looking for their fatal destiny, except that, instead of going towards death they would be going towards life. All of them, according to their social status, would be represented in one of these lines walking towards the enormous nipple. And the motto of the falla would be that sentence by Bataille who, talking about eroticism, said that it is the affirmation of life till death. In short, that tit with its beautiful nipple, or spout, was life, like eroticism, things that go very well with the fallas.

However, we still had the inside left. In it, at least in theory, there should be those things that generate the outside eclosion. That was when I thought of genitals. But of course, a tit is not like a dick. Anyway, I think I thought of something else later. Yes, I thought of juxtaposing those who openly wish to reach that manna, that supply of mother’s milk, creator, against those who try surreptitiously from the inside, they would be those from religious cults who gain access in a hidden way. It is like being homosexual and hiding it. To sum up, I think it would be like going down to hell, but to the Freudian hell, and at the door, by way of gatekeeper, there would be Freud himself to advise us on the best way to gain entry.

Of all that, as it is known, nothing happened. In the end, they didn’t call us and it remained as a mere idea. In any case, that falla could have represented that other idea I proposed to the Consejo de Cultura (Council of Culture), which intended to turn Valencia into the ludic Capital, in this year of celebrations, the horny year or the cabaret of 92. A proposal which, as you will see, will not be carried out.

Luis García Berlanga

* Prologue to “Berlanga: fallas de celuloide”. Ayuntamiento de Valencia – Asociación Cultural Falla Mossén Sorell-Corona, Valencia, 2007.