The Comic and the Humorous in the Sainete and the Grotesco: A Comparative Analysis of Los disfrazados by Pacheco and Mateo by Discépolo

Abstract

This paper analyzes the turn from comic to humorous modes in early 20th-century Río de la Plata theater, through a comparative study of Los disfrazados (1906) by Carlos Mauricio Pacheco and Mateo (1923) by Armando Discépolo. Respectively, these works represent the genres of the sainete and the grotesco criollo, which coexisted and overlapped in the theatrical scene of the time. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s (2003) theories of carnivalesque laughter and the grotesque, and Luigi Pirandello’s (1994) notion of humor as a "feeling of the opposite", the paper explores how comedic genres of the period shifted from external, collective expressions of comicity to internal, reflective ones. Additionally, recent contributions by Suárez (2021a; 2021b) provide a framework to understand this transformation as a dispositif. In Los disfrazados, the comic emerges through the use of language and the festivities of carnival itself, although the ending of the play takes a turn toward interiority. In Mateo, humor rises from the tension between dramatic and comedic conventions, and offers a critical yet empathetic take on family and social conflicts. The article concludes that this shift from the comic to the humorous signals a change in the social and aesthetic sensibilities of Río de la Plata theater.