Reading Mafalda as a Gendered Subject in 1960s and 1970s Argentina

• In Event: Mass Media and Popular Culture in Argentina and Mexico in the 1960-1970s

Abstract

This paper considers the social impact of a popular 1960s Argentine cartoon strip called Mafalda, which came to life and thrived during one of the most repressive periods of Argentine history. Focusing on its main protagonist, a little girl from an average Buenos Aires middle class family, the analysis outlines the emergent alternative gender discourses disseminated by the strip, reflecting on how it captured the imagination of female fans. Ultimately, the paper questions to-date unchallenged scholarly interpretations that fail to properly consider the reception of apparently inoffensive popular culture icons like Mafalda and presume masculinist ideologies to have been all powerful, and near inescapable, in the Argentina of the period

Author

• Adriana Premat, University of Western Ontario