Revisiting Iberian Convivencia through Amazon Prime's El Cid

Abstract: The Amazon Prime series, El Cid , offers a compelling representation of a young Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar and his rise to become known to history and legend as El Cid. The program recreates many dimensions of the world of medieval Iberia authentically, often relying on current scholarly trends, but in its approach to the topic of medieval Iberian convivencia , the show features scenes that serve to accentuate the hero's character as accepting of religious 'others' in ways that are significant departures from original source materials. The striking decision of the show's creators to emphasize El Cid as an ambassador of multicultural acceptance reveals far more about cultural priorities in twenty-first-century Spain. Ultimately, the portrayal of the hero Ruy in the television series suggests more about viewers' expectations for heroism and tolerance towards others than the versions of El Cid we read about in books. The program thus represents an important example of medievalism on screen in its portrayal of the legendary hero, and forms part of an emerging corpus of new representations of Spain popularized by the Spanish television and film industry and exported globally through streaming services.