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

Superiority as the triumph of the super-ego
As with comics, we see in films how the concept of machismo is portrayed through the
mechanism of superiority related to the super-ego. This corroborates our point that
machismo was a social concern of the era. In La Familia Burrón, Mexican women are
represented as abused by men, usually their partners. Cinema is more grounded in
reality than comics, and so even when situations are exaggerated and within the
universe of humour, it is more difficult not to feel concern for the safety of the women.
Because of this realism ‘cinema was obliged to encounter humour almost straight
away’. 161 As we know, humour distances us from reality, helping us cope with the
strong scenes.
The strongest and most graphic abuse of women occurs in Mecánica Nacional.
Eufemio is a Mexican macho, he defines himself in this way, and he believes that his
wife, Isabel, must be devoutly dedicated to him, unquestioning of his decisions or
behaviour. He is an authoritarian husband, tries to seduce another woman in presence of
Isabel, and offends her verbally and physically with no regret. As he tells her in an
argument: ‘Te debes a mí, vieja música’. 162 As a macho, ‘el solo hecho de ser el hombre
dominante, el líder de la manada, da muchos derechos, incluso sobre la vida y la muerte
de los demás’. 163
While Eufemio and Güero Corrales are flirting with a woman, Isabel and her
comadre (Güero’s wife) decide to go off with two other men. The comadre is kissing a
man while another man tries to seduce Isabel, when they are discovered by Güero
Corrales. He tells Eufemio that both wives were cheating on them. Güero Corrales and
Eufemio react with violence. When the Comadre denies that she cheated on her
husband, Güero takes her by the neck as if he were going to strangle her and says: ‘Pero
161 André Breton quoted by Critchley, On Humour, p. 57.
162 Alcoriza, Mecánica Nacional, 1971.
163 Barajas, Sólo me río... p. 110.
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