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

As we may remember, Freud also suggests that jokes are a vehicle for some of
the most valuable thoughts because the speaker finds him/herself in a safe environment
to express his/her thoughts. 95 The sharp criticisms that we find in our sources can be
very enriching for learning about the social concerns of the people. To exemplify this,
there is another example from Los Agachados which also contains exaggeration and
incongruity, as well as humour, to bring relief. The Licenciado Trastupijes informs his
fellow politician, Municipal President Epitacio, that he will not be the candidate for the
next elections since ‘[Epitacio] no sabe cómo robar’. To make such a statement so
straightforwardly is an absurd exaggeration, but we also recognise the truth in, and
celebrate the fact that someone has expressed, those thoughts. More topics appear
during the conversation of the two politicians; they decide that the next RIP candidate
should be someone honest and Epitacio wonders where they could find an honest
candidate. Trastupijes says: ‘Bueno, lo que se dice honrado, honrado, está medio difícil:
nadie se mete al partido aplanadora para seguir pobre..’. 96 In this example, the
mechanisms of humour are the same as those just mentioned. Following Freud, we can
decipher that in the social imaginary, politicians took up the career not to support voters
and improve the country but for their own benefit, and that virtually all PRI members
were dishonest. As Freud suggests, and as we have demonstrated, we find relevant
thoughts and concerns in jokes. In fact Mexican popular philosophy has a saying that
supports this idea: ‘entre broma y broma, la verdad se asoma’. Sadly, we do not know
which came first, Freud or the proverb.
We have seen that in the universe of humour situations are momentarily
allowed. 97 Hence, comics are a perfect environment for society to read accusations
95
Freud, El chiste y su relación… p. 88, and Freud, ‘El humor…’ (para. 11 of 14)
96
Los Agachados, 26, p.6.
97
Purdie, Comedy: the Mastery… p. 43.
111