Media configurations of the First Portuguese Republic and the Second Spanish Republic in the early twenty-first century

Portugal and Spain both experienced republican regimes in the first half of the twentieth century, namely the First Republic in Portugal (1910–1926) and the Second Republic in Spain (1931–1936). Their contemporary memorial configurations reveal significant differences between the two countries. As I will argue in this article, this is due not so much to the differences between the historical periods of the Portuguese and Spanish republics, but rather to the different situations in both countries today. Whereas, in Portugal, remembering the First Republic is a way of confirming national identity, in Spain, the memory of the Second Republic functions as a claim for ‘rehabilitating’ this period, stressing its political and social achievements. I will address this theme by means of a comparative analysis of the treatment given to the republics in two different TV series: República/Republic (Portugal 2010) and 14 de Abril. La República/14 of April: The Republic (Spain 2011). As we will see, the different functions performed by the memory of the republics in both states affect the representation of the republics in the TV series.