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

liberating us from their control and the respect we are forced to give them. While the
laughter lasts we feel a mood of rebellion. 105
As mentioned earlier, the citizens of San Garabato talk openly of Don Perpetuo’s
corruption. For example, Lechuzo and Arsenio, the two policemen, are ordered to arrest
political opponents, drunks, and ugly people (clearly a despotic and absurd order).
While they are arresting some men Lechuzo says to Arsenio that one of the detainees
was speaking badly of Don Perpetuo. When Arsenio asks what the man said, Lechuzo
replies:
Lechuzo: Dijo que era un viejo asesino, burócrata y corrupto.
Arsenio: ¿Y cómo sabes que hablaba de Don Perpetuo?
Lechuzo: ¿Pos [sic] de quién más?
The scene fills us with pleasure, because humour helped us to express ‘political
resentments, grievances and grumbles’. 106 Besides, we enjoy Lechuzo’s depiction of
Don Perpetuo, and the energy that we use to repress those same thoughts is released.
We laugh but at the same time we feel safe because someone else is delivering the
insult. 107 But we also relish the clumsiness of the policeman, the jailed man never
mentioned the Mayor by name, but Lechuzo assumed he must have been speaking of
Don Perpetuo. To portray both authorities, the police and the rulers, as inept and
corrupt is a means to discuss a banned topic openly.
Humour and Superiority
Police corruption and arbitrary exercise of power created many problems for citizens,
and they were sharply criticised through humour. This was a recurrent topic in both
comics and films, and their depiction was unflattering in both media. The Police was
105 Freud, El chiste y su relación… p. 102.
106 Davies, Jokes and their Relation… p. 85.
107 Freud, El chiste…, pp. 147-148.
195