EL RETABLO DE LAS MARAVILLAS
Contemporary Variations on a Theme by Cervantes
In this age of smartphones and artificial intelligence, many people are encouraged to adopt a sense of superiority that prevents them from recognising how remarkably small the distance is between ourselves and the great classics. In this respect, the situations portrayed by Cervantes in his interlude *The Altarpiece of Wonders* continue to occur today, often in even more extreme and grotesque forms.
The enormous expansion of today’s written, visual and audiovisual media provides the perfect platform for tricksters, fraudsters and charlatans of every kind to thrive while disguising themselves as society’s gurus. From influential positions in politics, finance and culture, they can sell us empty illusions by exploiting people’s fear of being labelled fools or extremists. No one listens anymore to the children who warn us that the emperor has no clothes. Perhaps because children today are too domesticated, artists have become dependent on public funding, and philosophers have taken on the role of guardians of the system. As a result, these empty spectacles grow ever larger, promoted by the highest institutions and marketed by the media, taking advantage of the fact that “Every day that dawns…”
Albert Boadella
Spanish language
Approximate duration: 100 minutes
