Dedicado a los Toros (Dedicated to the Bulls)

Well... I went to a bull fight yesterday. My friend Markus came back into Sevilla, and we went to the game together. And it was about as bad as I expected. Even before I bought the ticket, I knew I would hate it. And I was correct, but I'm glad I saw it. A lot of my friends here are now asking me if they should go see a bull fight, now that I've seen one and didn't like it, and I've told everyone who asks that I don't regret seeing it, and that if I could go back in time I would see it again. But I will not be a frequent attender of bull fights. In fact, I doubt I'll ever go see one again. But I think it's an experience to be had while I'm here, and I'm glad I did it. 

In front of La Plaza de Toros

The arena

Arena & people

Markus!

The opening ceremonies of la corrida de toros (bullfight)

EMTs standing by. Necessary.

For those who might not know, in a bull fight, there are 3 matadors, each kills 2 bulls (I.E 6 total bulls die). It's done in a sequence of steps that I won't go into, and the bull almost always dies in the end. In some rare cases, the bull is deemed too "valuable" by the audience, and that bull will be spared and named "el toro de bravo". It happens very rarely, and when it does, it's like.. in the news and talked about. I was hoping for that to happen yesterday; sadly, it did not.

The first bull was a bit smaller than the others, and his matador was named Manuel Jesus "El Cid". I got the impression that the audience didn't like that bull very much, because he was a little more timid and scared than the others seemed to be. And the audience seemed unenthused by it. But from the beginning of the "show", I was on the bulls side. I was like "Go bull, get him!" Of course, it's not a fair fight, so the chances of the bull winning are basically zero. Well, after the bull had already gotten "hit" a few times (there's a sequence of events that occurs to weaken the bull before the matador kills him), the matador was being all fancy with his red cloth thing, waving it around so the bull would charge and the matador could skirt out of the way at the last second to make the crowd go "Ooooooh" or "Ole!".  But then, out of nowhere, the bull hit the matador. Like.. the matador was airborne and then on the ground and the bull was on top of him and .. if his friends hadn't been there to help him, I feel certain the matador would have died. And I have never ever been so happy to see someone get hit by a bull before. Like.. I was cheering for the bull at that point. Here are some pictures from news articles about what happened at the fight yesterday:

Yeah tough guy... without your friends, you'd be dead. Just like the bull.

The guy in the black and white ran over after the matador got hit, and I think that long stick is something he's sticking into the bull to make him back off. 

Maybe you guys think I'm being cruel, but I'm okay with that. But I just couldn't help but feel for the bull. I mean, from the moment he gets into the arena, he's doomed. His chances for survival are nada. And then they pierce him with spears and put sharp daggers in him and weaken him enough so that they can kill him. And the freaking matadors think they're tough! Like.. first of all, you're wearing pink stockings and ballet shoes. And second of all, without your other matador friends, and the little walls in the arena you can dart behind, you would be dead! I would respect bull fighting much more if it was just a man, his sword, and the bull. None of this pomp & circumstance (lol, Mom) to weaken the bull so that you can kill it. Like be a man. If you want to say that you kill bulls for a living, that's fine, but at least do that, instead of this garbage you call "fighting". 

I am really looking forward to my Spanish Culture class that discusses bullfighting, because right now I'm just confused. And maybe I sound judgemental. But I'm not judging the Spaniards, I just want to ask why. And maybe if people from over here came to the US, they would think some of the stuff we do is whacked. Like watching gory movies or something. But I think I'm just being a normal foreigner with a questioning attitude towards this different culture. And I hope I get it explained to me. But for now, I think I'll stay away from bull fights. I realize that it probably has a great history behind it and that many regard it as art, and that's all fine by me, but I don't think I'll go see another one again.

One point I want to make is about the dignity with which the bulls died, namely the first one (the small one that no one really liked), but who actually got a hit on the matador. You know.. this whole fight isn't very dignified for the bull. The matadors are basically like.. playing with it. It's like they're just trying to make it angry so it'll run at them so they can do something fancy to make the crowd cheer. So in general, it's probably rather embarassing to be the bull (assuming bulls have human emotions, which they probably don't.) But when the matador gave his final blow, the bull just kind of stood there. And the matadors waved their little cloths to see if the bull would still charge at them, which he didn't, as his body basically shut down. But then the bull just laid down on the ground, as if to say "Alright. I'm done.". And then, after sitting there for a bit, he rolled on his side, just as gracefully as he had sat down. And that was it. Meanwhile the matador is wearing his dumb pink stockings and thinking he's the man. But I just want to say that I think the bull showed himself better than any of the cocky matadors.

I think part of the reason why I feel a bit irritated by the whole thing is that I've never really seen something die before, and I think that didn't go well for me yesterday. I admittedly teared up when the bulls died. Because they all ran into the arena with so much life and excitement, and then within a few minutes, they're dead. And I think that dramatic transition was rough for me to see, especially 6 times in a row. 

I think that's about all I have to say about the bull fight. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't understand it, and I hope I do soon.

Afterwards, I was feeling a little down about life, haha, so Markus and I went to sit by the river before going to get dinner.

Thanks for listening.