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

Superiority and antithesis
In the first chapter I suggested that we find it funny when someone is denigrated, but the
butt of the joke is in fact, our antithesis, because in this way we use humour as a mean
of aggression. 120 Thus, part of this work is discovering who was considered the
antithesis of society. It is interesting to observe that the antitheses of those citizens
portrayed in the comic books are the politicians and the police. Since their actions tend
to be detrimental and, instead of working on behalf of the community, they abuse it,
support the delinquents, and, in fact, they themselves are the criminals, it can be a
delight to mock them, to exaggerate their faults, and to enjoy the punishment they
receive.
In the issue previously described from Los Agachados, the residents of
Chayotitlán are playing football, and Profe Gumaro realises that the Licenciado
Trastupijes pretends to know about sports just to get on well with potential voters.
Gumaro mixes terms from different sports, asking senseless things, and Trastupijes does
not realise the mockery. The situation is funny because of the incongruity of the
comments and the fact that Trastupijes’ populist pretentions are punished by ridiculing
him. Nevertheless, readers find this situation even funnier because the butt of the joke is
not only someone in a position of power, the municipal president, but also their
antithesis, the authority that exploits the citizens. Thus, the pleasure obtained is greater
than if the joke is only about someone that we have no relation with.
We find another example in Hermelinda Linda, but this case is a kind of
‘enriched’ example. Hermelinda creates a magic chewing gum that forces people to tell
the truth unintentionally, and the chewing gum unleashes a series of revelations from
various people who reveal their real selves: policemen are corrupt killers, doctors are
120 Freud, El chiste y su relación… p. 100.
117