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

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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
incompetent and dishonest, and the only ones who do not have a dark side are normal citizens. At the end of the story, Hermelinda says to the readers: ‘Ya sé lo que están pensando. No vendo chicles para discursos políticos’. 121 The situation is illogical since magic chewing gum does not exist, but we enjoy the fact that the authorities are presented in a way that corresponds with our thinking. With Hermelinda’s last comment, we are directed to a negative characteristic about Mexican politicians: they lie in their political speeches. By saying this about an antithesis figure of authority, we enjoy denigrating the politicians. One more point to add about this example; we should remember that according to the superiority theory, when we insult someone through the language of humour, it is the triumph of the powerful over the vulnerable. 122 It would look like it is the contrary in this example, since the authorities had more power than citizens. Nevertheless, during the moment of humour, and while the laugh lasts, we put ourselves in a superior position. The butt of the joke is someone ridiculous that just deserves to be mocked, while we are not. Furthermore, we laugh because the character believes that he/she indeed is superior, which makes him/her look even more ridiculous. 123 Thus, the pleasure of the act of humour comes not only from the insult to the authorities and from saying what we really think about them, but also from the humiliation of considering them inferior and pointing out their ridiculousness. As we have seen, the police is another group that is constantly portrayed critically in these comics, and whose actions are portrayed as harmful for the community, transforming them into the antithesis of the upright citizens. Thus, the stories contain hilarious and exaggerated images of the police performing ridiculous actions or looking clumsy and caricatured, since the readers enjoy humiliating and 121 Hermelinda Linda, 373, p. 32. 122 Thomas Hobbes mentioned by Critchley in On Humour, p. 12. 123 Zupancic, ‘The “Concrete Universal” and…’, pp. 183-184. 118
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HUMOUR AS POLITICAL RESISTANCE AND
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Abstract This research focuses on t
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Table of Contents Acknowledgments
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The breaking of the rule ………
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Acknowledgments After so many years
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fantastic friends who are now part
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Introduction Dime de qué te ríes,
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And what about comics? Comics take
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helps us to understand a specific c
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were expecting a funny story. In ad
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Román Gubern’s ideas of visual a
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Chapter 1 Laughing when it hurts: A
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etween varieties of terminology in
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than just disjunctions in the narra
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serve as the basic vehicle for the
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so that there are parts which are n
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her body, she has a large round red
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classified jokes and humour and des
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case of Excélsior showed. 50 So, p
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We might find this joke funny becau
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absentmindedness in men and in even
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oken the rule of being respectful w
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Even though humour can work as a so
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sentiments, develop and perpetuate
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jokes are ‘a useful means of diss
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Other authors consider that in fact
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neutralise our feelings because lau
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power for thirty-five uninterrupted
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-and in the subsequent years- did n
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numbers of businessmen, workers and
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undermining the image of a dictator
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people’. 50 It aimed for an appar
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cambio (exclusivamente verbal), por
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university. In the film El Águila
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gave money in secret to Scherer to
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men appeared and beat many of the s
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Thus they decided to fight against
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PDLP, 115 captured those they thoug
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money without working because they
Page 80 and 81: information on antagonistic groups,
Page 82 and 83: Although the violent methods were o
Page 84 and 85: those who appeared to be hippies, h
Page 86 and 87: ock and roll and read the writers o
Page 88 and 89: Chapter 3 Laughter and reflection,
Page 90 and 91: are richer and carry more informati
Page 92 and 93: two years later the formula was rep
Page 94 and 95: magic will punish those who are hur
Page 96 and 97: time: Regino Burrón and his demand
Page 98 and 99: around them, in La Familia Burrón
Page 100 and 101: In 2008 Gabriel Vargas said: ‘el
Page 102 and 103: story, such as the Licenciado askin
Page 104 and 105: were discussed. In that chapter we
Page 106 and 107: the flat roof of the vecindad 49 or
Page 108 and 109: True humour: humour as social compl
Page 110 and 111: those in power for citizens in trou
Page 112 and 113: puro macanazo me convenció! Yo ni
Page 114 and 115: Machismo is another topic which eme
Page 116 and 117: dibujaba Rius en los sesenta como u
Page 118 and 119: One last example from Los Agachados
Page 120 and 121: collect a large amount of money to
Page 122 and 123: In the same episode in which Borola
Page 124 and 125: As we may remember, Freud also sugg
Page 126 and 127: alleges. 102 So, through the misfor
Page 128 and 129: apart and the reader enjoys the pol
Page 132 and 133: gaining a sense of victory over the
Page 134 and 135: are in better position than us, at
Page 136 and 137: Differences between groups of youth
Page 138 and 139: eaction is no more compassionate. T
Page 140 and 141: the actions of their antithesis, su
Page 142 and 143: controlling our fear. We could argu
Page 144 and 145: democracy, even if the official Par
Page 146 and 147: policeman is not acting in the way
Page 148 and 149: sistema de valores, pero por lo men
Page 150 and 151: ‘Pues sí: siendo rojos, tienen q
Page 152 and 153: of the joke we are too wise to beli
Page 154 and 155: allows us to discuss the existence
Page 156 and 157: campo.’ 187 But this does not mea
Page 158 and 159: Police As seen above, the police ap
Page 160 and 161: The police talk openly and unashame
Page 162 and 163: Nicanor was a victim of police brut
Page 164 and 165: speaks openly about the paramilitar
Page 166 and 167: demanded land reform: ‘consiguier
Page 168 and 169: point of view. This group makes ref
Page 170 and 171: we think about them. However, if we
Page 172 and 173: would be mere entertainment. Yet th
Page 174 and 175: claridades’. 228 That is what hum
Page 176 and 177: industry finally blossomed. 1 This
Page 178 and 179: make their own statements’. 13 In
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with Corona that Arau became politi
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The film was shot in 1971 and the p
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Echeverría sexenio he continued wo
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around the world. 45 It is consider
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eceived by the critics 53 but the p
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evident in some films than in other
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eal inspector has arrived, there is
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indicio) 67 which set the audience
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es una pura y celestial chiripada
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artists are in a coffee shop discus
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However, after this demonstration o
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the milk in a metal pot, which make
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‘¡pelos, pelos!’ 92 Tiliches a
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más favorable de la que, no obstan
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liberating us from their control an
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for the way he is dressed. They arg
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Superiority We have seen that humou
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or with that what which is prohibit
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world and change the situation in w
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During another event, the journalis
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antipathy or resentment toward disp
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Peasant: Ya va pa’treinta años d
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211 DA: Raza de majaderos, eso es l
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elationship between conquerors and
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marked limp and when Eufemio sees h
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light side’), we are presumably b
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no se va a poder [cheat on him]. Po
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un disfraz inimaginable’. Don Per
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Policeman: La lengua Poncho: De ham
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sombreros, indicating that they are
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we may feel consolation in Critchle
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criticises the abuse and dishonesty
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young one whose job is to carry the
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population. They were made in diffe
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elaxed or to break the tension afte
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In the section Speaking the Unspeak
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Conclusion This research has shown
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We also saw how films and comics co
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negatively depicted in films. The e
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the army in an unfavourable light.
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Tlatelolco in 1968, and the Halcona
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message. This kind of analysis, acc
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story. They were identified by high
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deep thought, etc. 21 ‘Even the s
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distinguished the concern of his gi
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Appendix 2 Tables The following cha
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Mechanisms of humour Los Agachados
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Mechanisms of humour Films Calzonzi
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Mechanisms of humour Mecánica Naci
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Bibliography Agnew, Bob, ‘¡Viva
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Brewster, Keith, ed., Reflections o
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----------, The Role of the Reader.
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Jardón, Raúl, 1968, el fuego de l
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Oikión Solano, Verónica, Marta Eu
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Zolov, Eric, Rebeldes con causa. La
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Bracho, Diana, ‘El cine mexicano:
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[accessed 28 February 2010] Monsiv
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Films Ahí está el detalle, dir. b
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