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

indicio) 67 which set the audience in the comic narrative, helping them understand the
film’s genre, and prepare themselves to laugh. 68
There is another example of humour and incongruity that is worth mentioning
because it exemplifies clearly the use of this mechanism in the film. While camping,
Doña Lolita, the grandmother of the family, becomes very ill and needs to go to the
doctor. The person in charge is a young man on his motorcycle, nicknamed Apache. He
promises to get a doctor by saying: ‘Vivo o muerto se lo traigo’. 69 The absurdity is
obvious since a dead doctor will not be able to save the old lady.
Tívoli is a more complex film in its language of humour. As can be seen in the
synopsis, Tívoli discusses serious topics, making it a challenge to turn the situations
comic. Just as in Mecánica Nacional, many of the acts of humour in Tívoli make social
or political statements, so that the use of incongruity is particularly important. I will go
into greater detail in the next section, but one interesting episode is worthy of mention:
an artist is trying to convince the owner of the cabaret to let him perform in the show.
His act consists of a dancing rooster, although we do not know how he makes the
rooster dance. Tiliches, the main comedian, asks how long a rooster lasts, and the artist
replies: ‘Pues se electrocutan como tres diarios’. 70 It is absurd that someone could
electrocute three roosters per day just as part of his cabaret act, not only because it is
cruel, but also because it is probably not profitable. So, this is an absurdity whose sole
intention is to entertain through the presentation of an illogical situation.
67 Francesco Casetti, Federico di Chio, Cómo analizar un film, trans. by Carlos Losilla (Barcelona: Paidós
Comunicación, 2007), p. 113. This information is also explained in appendix one of this thesis.
68 We can do this by freezing our fears and emotions as Bergson suggests in Laughter. An Essay… p. 145.
69 Mecánica Nacional, dir. by Luis Alcoriza (Ramiro Meléndez-Producciones Escorpión, 1971) [On
DVD]
70 Isaac, Tívoli, 1974.
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