Mafalda
Encyclopedia
Mafalda is a comic strip written and drawn by Argentine
cartoonist
Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known by his pen name
Quino
. The strip features a 6-year-old girl named Mafalda, who is deeply concerned about humanity
and world peace
and rebels against the current state of the world. The strip ran from 1964 to 1973 and was very popular in Latin America
, Europe
, Quebec
, and in Asia
, leading to two animated cartoon series and a movie.
. Mafalda's name was inspired by David Viñas
's novel Dar la cara. Ultimately, however, Clarín broke the contract and the campaign was canceled altogether.
Mafalda became a full-fledged cartoon strip on the advice of Quino's friend Julián Delgado, at the time senior editor of the weekly Primera Plana. Its run in that newspaper began on 29 September 1964. At first it only featured Mafalda and her parents. Her friend Felipe came on the scene in January 1965. A legal dispute arose in March 1965, which led to the end of Mafalda's Primera Plana run on 9 March 1965.
One week later, on 15 March 1965 Mafalda (the character at the age of five) started appearing daily in Buenos Aires' Mundo, allowing the author to follow current events
more closely. The characters of Felipe, Manolito, Susanita and Miguelito were created in the following weeks, and Mafalda's mother was pregnant when the newspaper shut down on 22 December 1967.
Publication resumed six months later, on 2 June 1968, in the weekly Siete Días Ilustrados. Since the cartoons had to be delivered two weeks before publication, Quino was not able to comment on the news to the same extent. After creating the characters of Mafalda's little brother Guille and her new friend Libertad, he definitively ceased publication of the strip on 25 June 1973.
After 1973, Quino still drew Mafalda a few times, mostly to promote human rights
. In 1976 he reproduced Mafalda for the UNICEF
illustrating the Convention on the Rights of the Child
.
The characters aged at about half the real time-scale while the script ran. They also went through minor changes largely due to the evolution of Quino's drawing style.
The Argentine editions are as follows, published by Ediciones de la Flor (except for the first five books, which were first published by Editorial Jorge Álvarez):
The editions differ in other countries: in Spain the small books are numbered from 0 to 10 and the full compilation is called Todo Mafalda, all published by Editorial Lumen; in Mexico the small books go from 1 to 12 and are currently published by Tusquets Editores.
Although most strips were translated into different European languages as well as into simplified and traditional Chinese
, there were only a few publications in English
. In the United States of America, his only published work is The World of Quino (1986). Beginning in 2004, however, Quino's publisher in Argentina, Ediciones de la Flor, started publishing English-language collections of Mafalda strips under the series title Mafalda & Friends.
n filmmaker Juan Padrón
, a close friend of Quino, directed 104 short animated Mafalda films, backed by Spanish
producers.
's Peanuts
, most notably by Umberto Eco
in 1968, who contrasted the two characters. Quino states he does not understand the reasons which led Eco to point out the alleged influence. While Eco thought of Mafalda and Charlie Brown as the voices unheard of children in the northern and southern hemispheres, Quino saw Mafalda as a socio-political strip, firmly rooted on family values. This is one of the reasons adults play a starring role in the strip, while they are never seen in the Charlie Brown universe. Quino does, however, acknowledge the influence of Schulz's work on his, in that Quino extensively studied Schulz's books in preparation for an advertising campaign he was working on in 1963. The advertising campaign was scrapped but he reused some of the material for the Mafalda series a year later.
Some people think the appearance of Mafalda's character resembles that of the main character in the U.S. comic strip Nancy
— and there is a reference in the strip where Miguelito buys a magazine and it has Nancy on the cover, then he asks Mafalda who she looks like. In the next panel is implied that Mafalda replied, "¡Tu abuelita!" ("Your granny!"), a phrase similar to "Your mama!" in English, as Miguelito stares at the magazine wondering, "My granny?".
A plaza in Angoulème
, France, is named after Mafalda.
In 2010, it was announced that the city of Gatineau
, in the province of Quebec
, had sought and obtained permission to name or rename a street after Mafalda, as part of a project to establish a neighbourhood named after famous comic strips and bande dessinée characters.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known by his pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Quino
Quino
Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known by his pen name Quino is an Argentine cartoonist. His comic strip Mafalda is very popular in Latin America and many parts of Europe.-Early life and work:...
. The strip features a 6-year-old girl named Mafalda, who is deeply concerned about humanity
Human Race
Human Race refers to the Human species.Human race may also refer to:*The Human Race, 79th episode of YuYu Hakusho* Human Race Theatre Company of Dayton Ohio* Human Race Machine, a computer graphics device...
and world peace
World peace
World Peace is an ideal of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations and/or people. World peace is an idea of planetary non-violence by which nations willingly cooperate, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance that prevents warfare. The term is sometimes used to...
and rebels against the current state of the world. The strip ran from 1964 to 1973 and was very popular in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, and in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, leading to two animated cartoon series and a movie.
History
The character Mafalda and a few other characters were created by Quino in 1962 for a promotional cartoon that was intended to be published in the daily ClarínClarín (newspaper)
Clarín is the largest newspaper in Argentina, published by the Grupo Clarín media group. It was founded by Roberto Noble on 28 August 1945. It is politically centrist but popularly understood to oppose the Kirchner government...
. Mafalda's name was inspired by David Viñas
David Viñas
David Viñas was an Argentine dramatist, critic, and novelist.-Life and career:Viñas grew up in Buenos Aires, and enrolled in the University of Buenos Aires, becoming head of the student organization Federación Universitaria de Buenos Aires...
's novel Dar la cara. Ultimately, however, Clarín broke the contract and the campaign was canceled altogether.
Mafalda became a full-fledged cartoon strip on the advice of Quino's friend Julián Delgado, at the time senior editor of the weekly Primera Plana. Its run in that newspaper began on 29 September 1964. At first it only featured Mafalda and her parents. Her friend Felipe came on the scene in January 1965. A legal dispute arose in March 1965, which led to the end of Mafalda's Primera Plana run on 9 March 1965.
One week later, on 15 March 1965 Mafalda (the character at the age of five) started appearing daily in Buenos Aires' Mundo, allowing the author to follow current events
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
more closely. The characters of Felipe, Manolito, Susanita and Miguelito were created in the following weeks, and Mafalda's mother was pregnant when the newspaper shut down on 22 December 1967.
Publication resumed six months later, on 2 June 1968, in the weekly Siete Días Ilustrados. Since the cartoons had to be delivered two weeks before publication, Quino was not able to comment on the news to the same extent. After creating the characters of Mafalda's little brother Guille and her new friend Libertad, he definitively ceased publication of the strip on 25 June 1973.
After 1973, Quino still drew Mafalda a few times, mostly to promote human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
. In 1976 he reproduced Mafalda for the UNICEF
United Nations Children's Fund
United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II...
illustrating the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...
.
Characters
The comic strip is composed of the main character Mafalda, her parents and a group of other children. However, the group was not created on purpose, but was instead a result of the development of the comic strip. The other children were created one at a time, and worked by countering specific aspects of Mafalda. The exception was Guille, Mafalda's brother, who was introduced during a period when the author did not have other ideas.- Mafalda: The main character Mafalda is an Argentine girl, approximately six years old, with a great concern for the state of humanity and a proverbial hatred for soupSoupSoup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
. She often leaves her parents at a loss by asking about mature or complex topics. As an example, she gets chided to concern herself with child-like things instead of asking about China's communism; in response, she pretends to play with bubbles in soapy water only to promptly proclaim that she is done and then restate the China question once more. Her incisive observations often leave the adults at a loss. Mafalda is generally a pessimistPessimismPessimism, from the Latin word pessimus , is a state of mind in which one perceives life negatively. Value judgments may vary dramatically between individuals, even when judgments of fact are undisputed. The most common example of this phenomenon is the "Is the glass half empty or half full?"...
to the point of being accused of being so by her friends; to this she responds that things are not so bad as to stop discussing them. - Mamá ("Mom") (Raquel, 6 October 1964) and Papá ("Dad") (Alberto, 29 September 1964): Mafalda's parents are a very normal couple, without any particular distinguishing features. Mafalda is often very critical of her mom's housewife status; her dad often tries to avoid Mafalda's snarky remarks and questions, although he very much sympathizes with the kid's scary view of school life. He is an avid horticulturistHorticultureHorticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
. Raquel appears to have been a talented pianist with Mafalda's father having a job as some sort of insurance agent who occasionally smokes. Their car is a Citroen 2 CV, which was a popular entry-level model for middle-class Argentines in the 1960s. - Felipe (19 January 1965): A dreamer who is deeply scared of school, even though he's the brightest and oldest member of the gang. He often wages intense internal battles with his conscience, innate sense of responsibility, and top school grades that he hates (*shows Mafalda a note where his teacher compliments him on his grades* "That is the worst good news I've ever been given!"). A consummate procrastinator, he loves to play cowboys and read comics, especially the Lone Ranger. Late in the series, he also has a crush on a girl named Muriel (as Susanita once says). He is characterized by his hair and teeth. When Mafalda drew a picture with an uncanny likeness to him, she says she used a shoe with a carrot at an angle for a model.
- Manolito (Manuel Goreiro, Jr., 29 March 1965): The son of a SpanishSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
shopkeeper. He is sometimes referred to as gallego (Galician), as his surname hints at such an origin, but it is common practice in Argentina to refer to all Spanish migrants as Galicians. While his family business is but a small, local grocery store, he seems ambitious with his career, business, capitalism and dollars, being more concerned with them than anything else. He's shown to be simple minded, but sometimes this is not the case. He is, in fact, very creative when it comes to business plans. He never goes on a vacation because of his father, who owns the store they work in. Both appear to enjoy making money and upon Manolito suggesting closing shop and go on a vacation for a few days, his dad appeared to have fainted from shock. He is characterized by his brush-like hair, which runs in the males of the family, and in one strip it is seen as growing quickly back right after it has been shaved. - Susanita (Susana Beatriz Clotilde Chiruchi, 6 June 1965): A frivolous girl with curly blond hair, who displays stereotypical feminine traits likes gossip, dreams of marriage and maternity, and woman antagonism. Her dream is to be a mother and dedicated housewife; she often fantasize about the possibilities. She is Mafalda's best female friend despite their bickering ("Well... you know... I'd rather freak out at you than at a complete stranger") She and Manolito are fiercest enemies, although it is shown that Susanita is more often the perpetrator of their bickering; as the attacks are often one-sided, Manolito is caught off guard most of the times, but on occasion he gains the upper hand. At times, she seems to have a crush on Felipe. She is sometimes shown as a glutton, usually regretting sharing with her friends or tricking them out of their snack.
- Miguelito (Miguel Pitti, 1966): About two years younger than Felipe and one year younger than Mafalda and the others, characterized by his lettuce-shaped hair. Somewhat of a rebel, most of the time he is a little too eager to get into philosophical debates. A descendant of Italian immigrants, his grandfather is very fond of Benito MussoliniBenito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
. He appears to have a harsh, houseproud mother, whom he is frightened of. - Guille (Guillermo, 1968) or Nando in some translations: Mafalda's little brother. He loves soup (much to his sister's chagrin), has a pathological dependence on his pacifier, and he and Mafalda have a pet tortoiseTortoiseTortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
called Burocracia (Bureaucracy). Somewhat cynical and prone to histrionics, with the prime target being their mother. He is a bit of a troublemaker and appears to share the same trait as his sister in terms of bringing up awkward topics of discussion. - Libertad (5 February 1970): "Libertad" is a given name in Spanish, which means "FreedomFree will"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
". The character is of small stature, leading to jokes about the size of freedom. Libertad is the most politically radical character of the comic strip, more even than Mafalda herself. She took the place of being the political one while Mafalda became more well rounded in her topics of discussion. She often gets in trouble with her teachers due to her point of view. - Muriel: Felipe's platonic love. Although he could never actually speak to his beautiful neighbor, it appears that Susanita knows everything about her, as well as everything else, because of her gossipy behaviour.
The characters aged at about half the real time-scale while the script ran. They also went through minor changes largely due to the evolution of Quino's drawing style.
Books and translations
Most strips that were not too closely tied to then current events were chronologically republished in ten small books simply named Mafalda and numbered from one to ten, with two strips on each page. This excludes the very first ones, published in Primera Plana, but never reprinted until 1989.The Argentine editions are as follows, published by Ediciones de la Flor (except for the first five books, which were first published by Editorial Jorge Álvarez):
- Mafalda (1966)
- Así es la cosa, Mafalda (This is the way things are, Mafalda) (1967)
- Mafalda 3 (1968)
- Mafalda 4 (1968)
- Mafalda 5 (1969)
- Mafalda 6 (1970)
- Mafalda 7 (1972)
- Mafalda 8 (1973)
- Mafalda 9 (1974)
- Mafalda 10 (1974)
- Mafalda Inédita (Unpublished Mafalda) (1989)
- 10 Años con Mafalda (Ten years with Mafalda) (1991)
- Toda Mafalda (The Whole Mafalda) (1992)
The editions differ in other countries: in Spain the small books are numbered from 0 to 10 and the full compilation is called Todo Mafalda, all published by Editorial Lumen; in Mexico the small books go from 1 to 12 and are currently published by Tusquets Editores.
Although most strips were translated into different European languages as well as into simplified and traditional Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, there were only a few publications in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. In the United States of America, his only published work is The World of Quino (1986). Beginning in 2004, however, Quino's publisher in Argentina, Ediciones de la Flor, started publishing English-language collections of Mafalda strips under the series title Mafalda & Friends.
Adaptations
Quino has opposed adapting Mafalda for cinema or theater; however, two series of animated shorts featuring Mafalda have been produced. The first, a series of 260 90-second films, was produced by Daniel Mallo for Argentine television starting in 1972. These were adapted into a full-length movie by Carlos Márquez in 1979 and released in 1981. It remains relatively unknown. In 1993 CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n filmmaker Juan Padrón
Juan Padrón
Juan Padrón is a Cuban animation director.Since 1963 he has published sketches and cartoons for Cuban magazines and newspapers. He was the creator, in 1970, of Elpidio Valdés, a cartoon character with more than sixty shorts and two feature length movies...
, a close friend of Quino, directed 104 short animated Mafalda films, backed by Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
producers.
Comparisons
Mafalda has occasionally been pointed out as being influenced by Charles SchulzCharles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...
's Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
, most notably by Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
in 1968, who contrasted the two characters. Quino states he does not understand the reasons which led Eco to point out the alleged influence. While Eco thought of Mafalda and Charlie Brown as the voices unheard of children in the northern and southern hemispheres, Quino saw Mafalda as a socio-political strip, firmly rooted on family values. This is one of the reasons adults play a starring role in the strip, while they are never seen in the Charlie Brown universe. Quino does, however, acknowledge the influence of Schulz's work on his, in that Quino extensively studied Schulz's books in preparation for an advertising campaign he was working on in 1963. The advertising campaign was scrapped but he reused some of the material for the Mafalda series a year later.
Some people think the appearance of Mafalda's character resembles that of the main character in the U.S. comic strip Nancy
Nancy (comic strip)
Nancy is an American daily and Sunday comic strip, originally written and drawn by Ernie Bushmiller and distributed by United Feature Syndicate....
— and there is a reference in the strip where Miguelito buys a magazine and it has Nancy on the cover, then he asks Mafalda who she looks like. In the next panel is implied that Mafalda replied, "¡Tu abuelita!" ("Your granny!"), a phrase similar to "Your mama!" in English, as Miguelito stares at the magazine wondering, "My granny?".
Recognition
In 2009, a life-sized statue of Mafalda was installed in front of Quino's old home in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires.A plaza in Angoulème
Angoulême
-Main sights:In place of its ancient fortifications, Angoulême is encircled by boulevards above the old city walls, known as the Remparts, from which fine views may be obtained in all directions. Within the town the streets are often narrow. Apart from the cathedral and the hôtel de ville, the...
, France, is named after Mafalda.
In 2010, it was announced that the city of Gatineau
Gatineau
Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...
, in the province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, had sought and obtained permission to name or rename a street after Mafalda, as part of a project to establish a neighbourhood named after famous comic strips and bande dessinée characters.