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

Superiority
We have seen that humour helps us deal with difficult topics, such as the loss of family,
and it helps us deal with abuse and oppression. But it also gives us the chance to take
revenge on those blamed for our unhappiness and discomfort. Here I will continue to
discuss the representation of corruption in these films through different characters.
However, we now turn to the superiority theory, which asserts that denigrating someone
in power brings pleasure because we ourselves feel superior while the act of humour
lasts. Our positions are momentarily reversed. Humour is one way to express banned
thoughts, how we attack those who cause us distress, and how we triumph temporarily.
For an instant, we are the powerful ones. The higher the authority, or the more
discomfort it has caused us, the greater the pleasure derived by making fun of them.
Tívoli has an interesting example. There are various sketches in the last show of
the cabaret, one of which is about corruption. It is a musical-comedy routine which
begins with a thief robbing a couple. A policeman arrives and interrupts the act,
snatching the loot from the thief’s hands. The figure of the policeman is silly: he wears
roller-skates which he controls with difficulty, and his face is painted as a clown, an
excessive and disproportionate representation of disrespect.
The policeman and the thief start checking the booty and both start arguing. The
policeman draws his gun but it is broken, and immediately the thief gives him his own
gun. The idea of the police and thieves working together reminds us of a similar scene
in Los Agachados, in which Nopalzin agrees to pay the police a percentage of his
robberies for not being arrested or reported. 114 Thus, the police and the criminals are
very similar and indeed the line that separates their behaviour and interest is very thin.
While we would expect the policeman to protect the couple, he works instead in
114 Eduardo Del Río ‘Rius’, Los Agachados, 39.
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