Cantinflas

Cantinflas
[edit] Origin of name
As a young man, Cantinflas performed a variety of acts in travelling tents, and it was here that he earned the nickname "Cantinflas", although the origin of the name is obscured by legend. According to one obituary, "Cantinflas" is a meaningless name invented to prevent his parents from knowing he was in the entertainment business, which they considered ashameful occupation. In another version, the Mexican media critic and theorist Carlos Monsiváis cites a legendary account of the origin of Cantinflas's characteristic speech:
“ | According to a legend that he agrees with, a young Mario Moreno, overwhelmed by stage fright, once, in the Ofelia carpa, forgets his original monologue. He begins to say what comes to mind in a complete emancipation ofphrases and words, and what comes to mind is an incoherent brilliance. His assistants recite his attack on syntax, and Mario becomes aware of it: destiny has placed in his hands the distinctive characteristic, the style that is manipulation of chaos. Weeks later, the name that will mark the invention is invented. Someone, taken in by the nonsense, screams: "Cuanto inflas!" [C' ntinflas] (You'reannoying!) or "En la cantina inflas!" [You like to drink a lot at the cantina (inflar means to swell)]. The contraction catches on and becomes proof of the baptism that the character needs.[11] | ” |
[edit] Entertainment career

Before starting his professional life in entertainment, he explored a number of possible careers, such as medicine and professional boxing, before joining theentertainment world as a dancer. By 1930 he was involved in Mexico City's carpa (travelling tent) circuit, performing in succession with the Ofelia, Sotelo of Azcapotzalco, and finally the Valentina carpa, where he met his future wife. At first he tried to imitate Al Jolson by smearing his face with black paint, but later separated himself to form his own identity as an impoverished slum dweller with baggypants, a rope for a belt, and a distinctive mustache.[5] In the tents, he danced, performed acrobatics, and performed in the roles of several different professions.
[edit] Impact
Among the things that endeared him to his public was his comic use of language in his films; his characters (all of which were really variations of the main "Cantinflas" persona but cast in different social roles andcircumstances) would strike up a normal conversation and then complicate it to the point where no one understood what they were talking about. The Cantinflas character was particularly adept at obfuscating the conversation when he owed somebody money, was courting an attractive young woman, or was trying to talk his way out of trouble with authorities, whom he managed to humiliate without theireven being able to tell. This manner of talking became known as Cantinfleada, and it became common parlance for Spanish speakers to say "¡estás cantinfleando!" (loosely translated as you're pulling a "Cantinflas!" or you're "Cantinflassing!") whenever someone became hard to understand in conversation. The Real Academia Española officially included the verb, cantinflear, cantinflas andcantinflada[18] in its dictionary in 1992.
In the visual arts, Mexican artists such as Rufino Tamayo and Diego Rivera painted Cantinflas as a symbol of the Mexican everyman. The American electronic dance music band Mindless Self Indulgence released a song about Cantinflas called "Whipstickagostop".
Cantinflas's style and the content of his films have led scholars to conclude that he influenced the manyteatros that spread the message of the Chicano Movement during the 1960s-1970s in the United States, the most important of which was El Teatro Campesino. The teatro movement was an important part of the cultural renaissance that was the social counterpart of the political movement for the civil rights of Mexican Americans. Cantinflas' use of social themes and style is seen as a precursor to Chicano...