National identity, history and culture of Chilean comic and cartoon characters

Abstract

This thesis goes into detail about various Chilean comic and cartoon characters and how they accurately represent many aspects of Chilean culture, history and national identity, especially in regards to characters of the twentieth century, like Juan Verdejo, Condorito and Checho Lopez. This paper is divided into four chapters that analyse Chilean historical events that shaped many comic and cartoon characters into what they are known for today. The first chapter delves into the period of extreme urbanisation and socio-economic change during the first half of the twentieth century, and how characters like Condorito and Juan Verdejo are a representation of that era by being the image of the farmer or miner that came from the countryside to live in city looking for a better life. The second chapter is an analysis of the Spanish picaresque character and how its reflection of the poor is analogous to the experiences of the characters Juan Verdejo and Condorito. The third chapter is about the journalistic genre of political satire that was popularized by Topaze magazine from the 1930s to 1950s, and how the comic characters found in the publication, like Juan Verdejo and Profesor Topaze represent the political climate at the time. The fourth and final chapter analyses Chile’s more recent history, from 1973-1990, when the country was going through a repressive military regime that caused mass censorship of mainstream media and in turn brought the arts and freedom of expression to halt, which became the inspiration of many characters like Checho Lopez and the bear from Bear Story who overcame the repression of the regime.