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

analysing or judging their actions, and they are also absentminded, 64 they did not
realise that Calzonzin was an impostor. The policemen talk openly about their abuse of
power, Mayor Don Perpetuo del Rosal uses various silly methods to convince Calzonzin
that San Garabato is well governed. Their actions are, as Bergson proposes, directly
related to social life although they are indeed insufferable for society. 65
Image unavailable due to copyright
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Image 4.3. ‘Calzonzin and Don Perpetuo del Rosal’. Calzonzin
Inspector, dir. by Alfonso Arau (1973) (in colour)
The incongruity of Mecánica Nacional and Tívoli also speaks of social and political
criticism. 66 However, there are examples of innocent humour too. In Mecánica
Nacional, the language of humour is established at the beginning when we see a group
of men painting the finishing line for a car race on the highway. Suddenly an ambulance
passes and spoils part of their work, and the painters whistle and curse the ambulance.
We might enjoy their misfortune, or feel sorry or upset about it, but the unexpected
situation develops the comedy of the film as well. In the next scene, we see the front of
the garage that belongs to Eufemio. The facade says: ‘Afinaciones científicas’, referring
to the method that is used to tune cars. We would not expect to describe a tune-up as
‘scientific’, and putting them together is an incongruity. These incongruities can be
considered as indications (which Francesco Casetti and Federico Di Chio understand as
64 Bergson, Laughter. An Essay… pp. 138-147.
65 Ibid., pp. 171-172.
66 Freud would suggest that the humour in these films is tendentious, since it is not innocent, it tries to
attack or reveal a truth. Freud, El chiste y su relación con lo inconsciente, trans. by Luis López
Ballesteros y de Torres (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2000), p. 93.
180