It is a truth universally acknowledged that the end of the year and the Christmas festivities need a recap. That’s why we are here.
Back in the 80s, when filmmaker Martin Scorsese was in one of his psychological abysses, his friend Robert De Niro went to see him to convince him to direct him in a project that he loved. He must have given him so much trouble that even in the lamentable emotional state in which he found himself, Scorsese said yes, he would do it. But, as a meticulous and neat speaker of audiovisual language, he asked for “patience.” Not because it was going to take a long time to start filming, but because it was going to be precise and rigorous; Achieving the excellence that was demanded required repetitions, time and fortitude. The movie was wild bull and this anecdote is told in the wonderful documentary series directed by Rebecca Miller Mr. Scorsese.
Patience. Time. Things don’t turn out well because they happen quickly. Maybe it’s not necessarily slowness we’re looking for, but a calm mind. Thus, in the midst of this desire to escape the rush and daily hustle and bustle, we invite you to join us on the philosopher Simone Weil’s train and “suspend your thinking.”
From dance to mysticism
Table of Contents
The narrative begins with a hip bump and a spiritual search. Two names have made the musical headlines of the year, at a time when it is rare for us to talk about someone for more than a day and a half.
In January, Bad Bunny released DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, an album in which he recovered the rhythms of his homeland, Puerto Rico. By rescuing traditional melodies he managed to seduce a part of the population that had until then ignored his songs. He has not been a pioneer – from Rozalén to La MODA, from Nathy Peluso to Rodrigo Cuevas, artists have searched the past to find inspiration – but he has swept listeners, concerts and influence. In fact, he is in charge of the Super Bowl halftime show and will become the first to do that show in Spanish. I have the satisfaction of confirming that yes, thanks to these recoveries, salsa has returned… and dancing too.
Rosalía’s has been autumn fever, a phenomenon that has helped us analyze (and learn about) terms such as linguistic bricolage or christiancore. And if we have been mentally repeating the lyrics of “The Pearl” for weeks, it is a comfort to know that there is a neuroscientific explanation for our brain’s obsession with holding on to a song and not letting go.
We close this story of pure enjoyment with the combination of body and soul, mysticism and dance, and the willingness to let yourself be carried away by the rhythm. Or, what is the same, we are approaching the Spanish cinema phenomenon of the year –Sirat– and the multiple dimensions of culture rave.
All the cinema and the world
It won’t be the lyrics of “Bad Romance”, but what the brain does release, and sometimes more quickly than we would like, are our memories of the television series. Accustomed to binge-watching, just as we see, we forget. Fortunately, the brain is plastic and if we are present and stop consuming audiovisual content like someone who binge-watches, we will ensure that the plots and characters settle in our heads.
It’s worth doing, because the power of stories is infinite. Although we read eternal reports about data and facts, putting a face to a story inevitably makes us get involved with it. It is notable that the cinema, for example, focuses on the least disadvantaged, the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, and tells us directly about their lives and deaths.
And while we try to understand how it is possible for the Palestinians to resist, before the eyes of the entire world, under these conditions, history teaches us that it was not always like this. If there was peace in the past, there could be peace in the future… a future in which, as Omar El Akkad says with some irony, we will all have always been against genocide.
The scramble of history
The one who is always in a hurry to do and tell is Donald Trump. The president of the United States seems to want posterity to remember him with as much admiration as he displays before that idyllic past of Humanity that was better, more buoyant, more successful, more… imperial.
There have been many historians who have analyzed his insistence on wrongly echoing what was happening in ancient Rome, and here we have dismantled some of the efforts of Trump, and the extreme right, to appropriate a historical period that, although very advanced, had its edges.
The interesting thing is that ancient Rome never ends. The Romans show us that having a close relationship with pets, protesting against tourists or preventing fires is not something that we have made fashionable in this century. Not even in the past.
2025, as my beginning of the article indicates, has been the Austen year. It was 250 years since the birth of the English author and, although in Spanish we have not surpassed either the intensity of the British splendor or the extensive coverage of our colleagues at The Conversation United Kingdom, we have brought together a large group of researchers who broke down nuances of her novels to invite readers to immerse themselves in their stories.
In Spain it has also been the centenary of two greats of literature: Ana María Matute and Carmen Martín Gaite. We have honored them as they deserve although I always have the thorn of discovering that it is the researchers – women – who continue to explain to us the writers – women –, as if only we read them.
By the way, we also say goodbye to the last Nobel Prize winner for Literature in Spanish: Mario Vargas Llosa. Maybe it’s time for the Swedes to add another one (or another) to the list.
The technological urgency
The third installment of Avatarprobably one of the few films that took advantage of that accelerated and capitalist phenomenon that was 3D cinema (just as it arrived, it deflated). This bubble reminds us that, although technology has always helped the advancement of culture (from the printing press to sound films or the record player), it alone has never managed to make great humanist leaps. He is there to lend a helping hand but not to replace.
That is why it is good not to panic when new tools such as artificial intelligence appear (which creatively is still in its infancy) and to use art and thought to consider, once we have them, what we want to do with them.
There have been other names that have passed through the Culture section this year: Robert Redford, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Diane Keaton, Cervantes… But since we do not want to rush at the end and confuse the staff, I simply remember that in 2025 we launched the Cultural Supplement, a biweekly newsletter in which we compile many of the articles and research to which I refer so that those who subscribe can read, in a calm way, the best texts in the section.
Scorsese already said it: “patience.” Let’s see if by exercising it more we open gaps in time and find a silent space to think.