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

evident in some films than in others. 59 El Águila Descalza addresses various serious
topics, such as labour exploitation, poverty, drug dealing, and others. The construction
of humour is important in that the viewer understands the issues at stake but does not
feel concerned for the safety of the characters or become upset with the topics raised.
From the beginning, the main character, El Águila Descalza, is presented as someone
clumsy who emulates the stereotypical US heroes, such as Superman, Batman, or even
the thief Robin Hood, but without their grace and success. For example, we see him
trying to enter a house in order to recover the roller-skates belonging to a poor child
which had been stolen by a rich spoilt child. He first fights with the family dog in the
garden. He is humiliated by the dog, which bites him and rips his clothes while he runs
awkwardly, in contrast to the elegance and style of the super heroes as we know them.
When he finally gets into the house, he does it clumsily, dropping objects and making
noise, causing the child to wake up. The behaviour of El Águila is discordant when we
compare it to the hero stereotype, and this introduces us into the language of humour.
However, El Águila is not the only incongruent character. Others include the
assistants of Mascalzzone (the villain of the story), who dress like wrestlers. To have
these evil helpers dressing that way seems absurd and it contrasts with the famous
wrestler films from the end of the 1950s to the 1970s. In these films, wrestlers such as
the legendary Santo or Blue Demon were the heroes. So it is incongruous to have them
here in exactly the opposite role. However, it is necessary to know the broken frame that
reveals the incongruity, as Umberto Eco suggests. Just to see wrestlers as a villain’s
henchmen is already a ‘mismatch’.
Working class exploitation is one of the social issues tackled in the film. But the
subject is softened with incongruity. Poncho (El Águila) and his mates test pogo sticks
59 It is important to highlight that for the time being, I will focus only on incongruity, though other
mechanisms of humour will be discussed later in this chapter.
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