Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

comedy is a way to raise a matter for discussion, even those which our consciousness
prevents us from talking about in social situations. 79
So, humour liberates us from the social oppression of repressing our thoughts,
and is also a safety valve, bringing relief by pointing out the ridiculousness of the
authorities. In issue 17280, Borola says to her friend, the diputado Gorraez, something
that we would enjoy saying to this public servant face to face. When she visits him to
borrow some money to organise a street party, the diputado tells her that he cannot help
her because he is in a hurry to get to the Cámara de Diputados. To this apology, Borola
replies: ‘No me vengas con cuentos. Sobran los que van como tú sólo a levantar el
dedo’. 80 The name of the diputado is also a play on words. In Mexico, ‘vivir de gorra’
means to get things without paying and without effort. 81 Also relevant is that in the
image of the diputado Gorraez, we see the representation of all diputados. He embodies
all of them; therefore, by giving him this demeaning name, we are insulting all
diputados, and feel relief for the opportunity of insulting them without consequence.
The diputados are among the authorities most satirised in these three comic
books. They became an synecdoche of all government authorities. Perhaps it was safer
to criticise them since their power is legislative, and it would be more difficult for the
authorities to repress criticism. Also, in a country in which democracy is questioned,
these positions are a good target to make fun of. It seems appropriate to review the
different descriptions that appeared in our sources and by doing so, construct an image
of the diputado from the social imaginary. Besides those features just discussed, they
are also referred to as clumsy and lacking the proper education and expertise to do the
job. There is an example of this in La Familia Burrón, in which Borola is trying to
79 Freud, El chiste y su relación… p. 119.
80 La Familia Burrón, 17280, p. 20.
81 Luis Fernando Lara, Diccionario del español usual de México (Mexico: Colegio de México, 2010)
[accessed 31 March 2011]
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