The Comedy as a social criticism in The Cinema of Cantinflas Essay

The Comedy as a social criticism in The Cinema of Cantinflas - Essay Example The emergence of Cantinflas as an urban comedy provided a breakthrough for Mexican comedy (Hershfield, p.192). The basic theme for this comedy and all others in the time was social criticism. First, the comedy was presented in folkloric depictions that were targeting the local audience. Secondly, Mario Moreno, more popularly known as Cantinflas used a style that was well-known to the people to attract the audience he wanted to present his points. This made him popular among the Mexicans who took charge of his messages and acted on them. This paper is aimed at supporting the thesis that comedy as applied in the Cantinflas films and other Golden Age comedies in Mexico is a tool for social criticism (Shaw, p.68). Mario Moreno is a Mexican comedian is global known as the Cantinflas after his hilarious character he has portrayed in different films. He is represented in many of his films as a poor Mexican, who is overburdened by hard labor and poverty. In Ahà ­ està ¡ el detalle (There’s the Detail) (1940) he wears drooping pants that are held in position by a rope. His shoulders are free indicating that he is in a job to carry loads. This film, as interpreted by many analysts has the theme of poverty and oppression of the poor in Mexico (Hershfield, p.194). Cantinflas brings out this theme through the expression of poverty that he appears to be living in. The film criticises the social and political systems of the time that promoted the oppression of the poor in farms and their failure to help them rise from poverty. The folkloric depiction of most of the films during this time including those of Cantinflas and others like Allà ¡ en el Rancho Grande, despite providing the people with a social identity also gave them an extra thought. Most of the styles used were meant to keep away the foreigners from understanding the deeper meaning of the characterisation and the themes. This was an effort to have the Mexicans develop a home solution to