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

policies’, 20 and although during López Portillo’s sexenio more films were made than in
the previous period, 21 the quality was arguably weaker in terms of themes and
production. The Mexican cinema would have to wait more than twenty years before it
could reemerge.
Films
In this research I will analyse four films: Mecánica Nacional, Tívoli, Calzonzin
Inspector and El Águila Descalza. Here I describe them briefly and discuss their
creators, to help the reader contextualise them. They are organised chronologically.
More information about each plot and the films themselves will be drawn in throughout
this chapter. 22 Next we turn to an analysis of them according to the conceptual
framework developed in earlier chapters. We will see how mechanisms of humour such
as incongruity, exaggeration, superiority and relief were used to criticise the political
and social reality, and how filmmakers and audiences benefitted from doing so. We will
also point out the most common topics discussed through humour, leading to reflections
in the conclusion about the relationship between the recurrence of the topics, the
contemporaneous history, and the reason for using humour as a mean of expression.
El Águila Descalza (1969). This was the first film directed by the actor Alfonso Arau.
At the time he made the film, he was a well-established actor and was known for his
dancing skills, as well as for the dancing duet he formed with the dancer and actor
Sergio Corona. According to Emilio García Riera, it was during a working trip to Cuba
20 Ramírez Berg, Cinema of Solitude… p. 51.
21 Mora, Mexican Cinema… p. 139.
22 Complete specification of these films can be reviewed in the masterpiece by Emilio García Riera,
Historia documental del cine mexicano, 18 vols (Mexico: Universidad de Guadalajara, Consejo Nacional
para la Cultura y las Artes, Gobierno de Jalisco, Secretaría de Cultura, Instituto Mexicano de
Cinematografía, 1994), 14-17.
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