A controversial legacy from the Romantic period. Al-Andalus echoes in films featuring tourists (1905-1975)

The central theme of the article is the role of the image of Al-Andalus in shaping the archetypes of Spain and Andalusia, and more specifically in the tourist image of the latter. Thus, the main objective of this article is to show the historical process through which the idea of and the features associated with Al-Andalus have become one of the components of the tourist image of Spain and, fundamentally, of Andalusia throughout most of the 20th century. Furthermore, the secondary objectives are to analyse the intense debate, running since the beginning of the 19th century, about the image of Al-Andalus among Spanish intellectuals; and analyse the (re)production of “phantom image” linked to Al-Andalus in films with tourists, using a qualitative method of film image analysis that can be considered novel (Grounded Theory built through visual analysis with NVivo software).