La ciudad fingida. Representaciones y memorias de la Barcelona turística

Abstract

The current article is focused on tourist pictures of Barcelona. Those highly sponsored pictures of the city that some times match the reality and some others do not; however true or false they share the same stereotyped and fake image. The picture of the tourist Barcelona shows a general image (an ideal representation) of the city, and this idealization creates several clichés that provide the city with its own special flavour and identity. This widely spread picture of Barcelona selects and presents several pieces and corners of the city that naturally become direct associations to it. This procedure of making reference points out of the resources the city has is not only efficient but can also confuse its real façade. A façade that most tourists can only glance at turning it as superficial and ephemeral as it is portrayed and assuming this sponsored image of Barcelona. The gap between such tourist pictures and the reality damages the identity of the city as this type of imposed pictures aid the creation of such clichés

Keywords

• Cultural tourism
• Performances
• Images
• Idenfication
• Barcelona