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

un disfraz inimaginable’. Don Perpetuo demonstrates disrespect for indigenous people
when he speaks of Calzonzin: ‘Si por lo menos fuera gente de apariencia respetable,
pero indio, flaco y prieto, para acabarla de amolar (…). Sin embargo es bastante
listo…’. Calzonzin himself enunciates the disdain that indigenous people are held in
when during the parade he says to Don Perpetuo: ‘En otras partes nada más lo ven a uno
como asunto folklórico, de indio patarrajada no lo bajan a uno’.
Clearly these expressions show contempt, but the exaggeration of the characters,
situations and statements underline the comical character of the scenes, and once the
comedy is revealed, our super-ego helps us cope with the anger that their racism
arouses.We also appreciate Calzonzin taking advantage of the confusion by setting
himself in a position of superiority – ‘uno de los ingredientes fundamentales de la
comedia es el disfraz, el engaño’. 171
The breaking of the rule
As we know, situations which disrupt established frames of reference are humorous.
However, ‘the laughable borrows its special quality from some persons or group of
persons who happen to laugh at it’, 172 in other words who share social frames. ‘Having a
common sense of humour is like sharing a secret code’, 173 and if the frames that the
comedy alludes to are alien, we would recognise the incongruity but not the underlying
social reference. In comics, certain characters whom we expected to behave in a certain
way (the frame of reference) in fact behaved differently. Showing characters’ excesses
makes it possible to criticise them, bringing satisfaction. Humour gives us this
satisfaction. When we laugh at the wrongdoing of these characters we point out their
faults, the broken rule, and how ridiculous they are.
171 Campos, Comedia. Humor y... p. 71.
172 Raskin, Semantic Mechanisms… p. 17.
173 Critchley, On Humour, p. 68.
221