Pelado

In Mexican culture in society, "pelado" is "a term invented to describe a certain class of urban "bum" in Mexico in the 1920s."cite book| last = Monsiváis| first = Carlos| authorlink = Carlos Monsiváis| coauthors = Hershfield, Joanne and Maciel, David R., editors| title = Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers (Chapter 4)| publisher = Scholarly Resources, Inc.| date = 1999| location = Wilmington, Delaware| id = ISBN 0-8420-2681-9]

Mexico has a long tradition of urban poverty, beginning with the "léperos", a segregated caste of Mestizos, and Indians, and illegitimate Criollos during the colonial era. The "léperos", viewed as unrespectable people by polite society, supported themselves as they could through vending or begging, but many resorted to crime. They established a thieves market across from the viceregal palace, which was later moved to the Tepito area of the working-class Colonia Guerrero. They spent much of their time in taverns, leading to the official promotion of theatre as an alternative.

Initially, many of these plays were organized by the church, but the people soon set up their own theaters, where the humor of the taverns survived. The rowdy, often illegal stagings were no place for sophisticated plot lines or character development, and the "carpa" ("tent") theatre relied heavily on stock characters who could deliver quick laughs. The "pelado" became one of them.

Literally meaning "pealed" (barren, bleak, or exposed), the term referred to the penniless urban slum-dwellers, uprooted from the countryside and un- and under-employed. Like the "léperos" before them, they represented an underprivileged element with criminal tendencies—a threat to Mexican society. But in addition to their predecessors' problems adjusting urban life and surviving, the pelado of the early twentieth century was also wedged between traditional and modern societies.

As Mexico sought to define itself as a modern nation, the philosopher Samuel Ramos saw the "pelado" as a symbol on Mexican national identity. "The pelado belongs to the lowest of social categories, and represents the human detritus of the big city."

In philosopher Samuel Ramos' 1934 ontological study of the Mexican national character, the "pelado" is described as "the most elemental and clearly defined expression of national character."cite book| last = Ramos| first = Samuel| authorlink = Samuel Ramos| coauthors = Peter G. Earle (translator)| title = Profile of Man and Culture in Mexico| publisher = University of Texas Press| date = 1962| location = Austin| id = LCCN F1210 .R3 (no ISBN)]

One shrewder, gentler subgenre of the "pelado" archetype is the "peladito", a type epitomized by Cantinflas. According to the comedian, "The "peladito" is the creature who came from the "carpas" with a face stained with flour or white paint, dressed in rags, the pants below the waist and covered with patches, the belt replaced by an old tie, the peaked cap representing a hat, the ruffled underwear that shows at any provocation, the torn shirt, and "gabardine" across his left shoulder."

References

ee also

*Chilango