4 - Laughing It Off? Comedy and Humour in the Face of Crisis

Summary

It might seem as if Argentineans had very few reasons for laughter during the years of crisis. Yet comedy proved to be a crucial element to films seeking to comment on society, its history and culture. Films used diverse forms of visual and verbal humour to address subjects such as the family, friendship, history, tradition, social commitment, economic hardship and political change. By employing very distinctive traditions of humour they offered a space for reflection on both the problems of the past and those of the present, and they asked questions about culture and society. Comedy, in particular children's movies and entertainment cinema (cine de entretenimiento), has been among the most successful film genres at the Argentine box office over the last few decades. The focus of this chapter will again be on films that deal with cinematic representations of the crisis, starting with an analysis of films that may be defined as ‘social dramas’ such as Lucho Bender's Felicidades (Merry Christmas, 2000) and Leonardo Di Cesare's Buena vida (delivery) (Good Life (Delivery), 2004). In these movies lighter comic situations alternate with – or transform into – moments of dark humour to raise important social questions. The study of Cristian Bernard and Flavio Nardini's comedia picaresca (picaresque comedy) 76 89 03 (1999), and Pablo Trapero's comedia costumbrista (comedy of everyday life), Familia Rodante (Rolling Family, 2004), will emphasise the political and social significance of these forays into comedy sub-genres that are widely recognised by Argentine viewers. Finally, the focus will shift to Néstor Montalbano's Soy tu aventura (I’m Your Adventure, 2003) and Damián Szifrón’s Tiempo de valientes (On probation, 2005). These are two post-2002 comedies by directors who succeeded in combining vulgar and sophisticated forms of humour. As they did so, they introduced the grotesque and absurd into a commentary on Argentine society and everyday life. Textual analysis of how Argentine comedy – its comic situations, black humour, irony, absurdity and parody – related to its cultural, political and social context in the period allows for a different perspective on the social reality that Argentina was experiencing at the time.

In their substantial study Popular Film and Television Comedy, Krutnik and Neale find that the most striking aspect of comedy lies in the immense variety of forms it gives rise to.