Myxomatosis and Radioactivity in Carlos Saura’s La caza (The Hunt, 1966)

Abstract

The myxoma virus (MYXV) was used in Australia in 1950 to control, albeit temporarily, the overpopulation of the invasive European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). A different strand of the virus was released in France two years later, resulting in the drastic decline of European rabbits in the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. The MYXV’s disease, myxomatosis, is a highly contagious and normally fatal infection in a rabbit species lacking resistance, such as the European rabbit. As myxomatosis was spreading across the European continent, Spain started to invest in nuclear energy. The use of myxomatosis as a bioweapon and the creation of nuclear energy capable of radioactive pollution are also at the core of Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura’s La caza (The Hunt, 1966). This article argues that The Hunt provides an important examination on extinction and biopolitics at both local and global levels through its portrayal of myxomatosis and radioactivity.