Something Is Happening Here

Portuguese nationalism after the war tried to reframe its geo-political narrative by legitimising its membership in the Western sphere with its impeccable anti-communist credentials. By the 1960s, the increasing influence of Neo-realism, indeed its hegemony in the cultural field, gives rise to a first master narrative in which the terms of the cultural antagonism can be framed in the dynamics of dominant, residual, and emergent cultural forms. The most persistent narrative in Portuguese historiography ascertains that the country lagged behind European modernity. The postcards in the album are all of actors, actresses, and musicians. Young, cheerful, sometimes sensual faces appear before eyes while we leaf through the album, in what seems the perfect illustration of the same process of cultural Americanisation identified by Kristin Ross. From the late 1970s on, television will not only provide the most famous figures of the incipient Portuguese star system, it will also drive other cultural phenomena and reorganise people’s routines and the everyday life.