Social Class and Italian Culture

Social Class

The play El Loco Ruiz gives its readers insight into the social class of Buenos Aires through the use of the theater. This is done through the use of various characters. One is the character Akman, another is the titular character Ruiz. Moreover, the play addresses certain themes that would attract members of different social classes.

There was a particular image of the Argentine middle class. Immigration primarily came from Spain and Italy, who would go on to form the “urban middle class” in Buenos Aires. Common middle class jobs were “qualified technical workers and assistants, shopkeepers, employees in the public administration, the service sector, and/or technical areas.” While on the other hand upper middle and upper class members held degrees of higher education. In the play Ruiz attempts to create the perception of living a middle class lifestyle. He does this by furnishing his apartment with different physical items that indicate membership in the middle class.

There were different perceptions about makeup of the classes in Buenos Aires, Europeanness played a substantial part in the conception of class membership, where individuals of European descent were predisposed to be members of the middle and upper class. The middle class itself was perceived as “white, modern, and civilized.” While the lower class was seen as “uncivilized, anti-modern, and non-European.” The working class was characterized by factory and agricultural jobs, or just simply unemployed. Moreover, the characterizations of social class in Argentina went beyond just economics but also included the character, intellect and cleanliness of individuals. In these cases the prevailing idea was that the higher classes were superior in each of the categories.

In the play El Loco Ruiz the character Akman is a representation of the relationship of social class in 1919 Buenos Aires. In the play, the character Akman was a “seller of bibles” from the countryside and was condescendingly described as a “country bumpkin,” or rather lower class. This encounter shed light on the author’s opinions on social classes and specifically their ideas about the working class. The working class was seen as being as a result of migration from rural areas into the city, who were uncontrollable, had no manners, and were prone to superstitious belief.

These ideas are shown in the play by examining the Author’s opinions on social class The main characters were mainly made up of the European middle class citizens while people they interacted with where from other classes. In particular when the group was interacting with the character Akman, who was described as being lower class. He was shown as being gullible and unintelligent. This confirms the idea that the prevailing notions in 20th Century Argentina that the middle class was superior to the working class.

By examining the various references in the play, it is possible to see how the playwrights attempted to attract a wide audience to their play. This can help create a better understanding of who was seeing these plays in 1919. For example, the emphasis on opera in the play can be understood to attract individuals of the upper class. Additionally, the writer Carolina Invernizio was immensely popular with the middle class in Latin America at the time. Moreover, the inclusion of slang Lunfardo in the play was used to bring individuals of the lower class to the theater, since they were the primary users of these slang terms.

Upper Class

Opera

Teatro Colon

The Teatro Colon opened in May 25th, 1908. The architecture of the building drew inspiration from Italian and French opera houses. The theater was regarded as one of the finest in the world, specifically renowned for its acoustics and the artistic value of its construction. The first production in the theater was by the Grand Italian Opera Company. However, throughout its lifetime the theater recruited opera companies to perform in their building from other countries. By 1925 the Teatro Colon had its own permanent companies (orchestra, ballet and choir) and its own production workshops to put on plays. The Italian influences represent the higher class society of 1919 Buenos Aires, potentially revealing that the authors attempt to imitate Italian culture to attract members of a higher social strata.

Opera and Performing Arts

Additionally, in an attempt to attract audience members from the high social class, the authors referenced Opera and performing arts throughout the play. In El Loco Ruiz the character Ghio is an Italian by birth and an operatic tenor by trade. The appearance of an Italian singer as a stock character in a play of the era helps illustrate the Italian contribution to music and the stage from the turn of the century until the aftermath of the First World War. Many popular opera performances took place at the Teatro Colon and featured popular Italian singers such as Enrico Caruso and Titta Ruffo. In 1898, members of the Italian community held “a benefit concert to raise money for a warship [which]  included Cavalleria rusticana, the martial duet from I puritani, act 3 of Faust, the Argentine national anthem, a warlike march, a concerto for a prima donna and seven mandolins, and another concerto for soprano, violin and piano.” A large number of both the performers and audience members of opera in Argentina were drawn from the ranks of Italian immigrants. Italian Opera in Argentina started under the control of the Opera cartel of Walter Mocchi, an international syndicate  “made up of two interlocking companies, one based in Italy, where it controlled the Teatro Costanzi (the leading Rome opera house), the other in Buenos Aires, where it had administrative control of the Teatro Colon” Creative leadership of the cartel was held by Cesare Ciacci. Following World War one, the Mocchi cartel helped “a potential Argentine rival” establish schools for training Argentine opera singers, and following the great depression the Mocchi Cartel effectively dissolved and the demographic of opera performers in Argentina shifted from Italian immigrants to native Argentines.

In addition to performing opera, Italians were also represented by playwrights, making Darthes and Damel’s Ghio no exception. The playwright  Armando Discepolo  “portrays the Italians and their daily struggles” as newly arrived immigrants trying to make ends meet in a more positive representation of Italians.

Many plays, in a more negative light, portray Italians as the Cocoliche stereotype of a bumbling and idiotic Italian laborer with laughably broken Spanish, created when during a play an actor “engaged in an improvised verbal exchange” with an Italian hired hand, Antonio Cocoliche, whose broken Spanish “caused great laughter” among the audience.

Middle Class

Carolina Invernizio

Another primary reference during the play was to the Italian author Carolina Invernizio, who was popular in the Argentine middle class. In the play, Agustina calls Anjelica “Carolina Invernizio,” while Anjelica was fighting with Ruiz. Inverizio was known for her strong female protagonists which related to the character Anjelica.

Carolina Invernizio was an Italian writer, who lived from 1851-1916. In her life she wrote around 130 novels and her work was characterized by simple fights between good and evil. They typically featured female protagonists, who normally dominated over their male counterparts. Her novels were tremendously successful among women and became one of the quintessential examples of the “Italian Novel.” Her novels held an appeal to the working classes because of her easy-to-read writing style and that most of her books dealt with clear cut themes. In addition, her books were dramatic and crime-ridden, which helped increase her appeal. She was one of the first successful mass produced writers in Italy and also one of the most productive. Moreover, her books were translated and became popular in both the United States and Latin America. Which helps explain why she was referenced in El Loco Ruiz.

The reference to Carolina Invernizio seems to be an appeal to the Italian middle class of Buenos Aires, who were likely to be attending the play. It potentially was the intent of the author of the play who would want to increase the amount of people seeing the play.

Lower Class

Lunfardo

Lunfardo was a form of slang from the Buenos Aires outskirts used by mostly “petty criminals”. The slang itself was “derived from [the] regional dialects of the city’s immigrants.” It was also highly influenced by Italian, as many Italian words would be adopted by individuals throughout the city. Moreover, there was Italianized Spanish, which was spoken by Italian immigrants and created slang dialects from the suburbs. These words were adopted into the Argentine lexicon, the plays being a primary piece of evidence of this phenomena.

The first word was Araca which used to indicate “alert or alarm.” Another word was Cana piñata, it was slang for police combined with the word piñata to deride law enforcement. The play also brought in the word Ranun which was used to describe a “womanizer.” To describe “a woman with exceptionally nice legs” they used the word Piernun. Another word for anger was Bronca; for example, the phrase “me da bronca is the equivalent of ‘It makes me angry.’”

In addition, many playwrights utilized slang to be more representative of actual city life. The slang used in the plays of Alberto Vacarezza had the effect “that he drew criticism from critics who said audiences could not understand the dialogue delivered by actors.” It is probable that playwrights brought in slang to attract Italian immigrants as audience members, who were more familiar with the slang used.

Boarding Houses

In addition, the play brings in boarding houses, the character Ruiz attempts run a pimp business from his apartment in a boarding house. He improves his lifestyle to give the facade of a upper middle class life; however, he is living in a boarding house which is characteristic of the lower classes of Buenos Aires. From outside the play, two Argentine films Villa and Diagnóstico esperanza both condemn the conditions of shanty town living, yet Villa ultimately celebrates the benefits of shanty town life, applauding the independence the towns give the citizens as well as solidifies the residents’ solidarity that constant struggle often brings. However; Diagnostico esperanza explores the dynamic relationship between these peoples and the environment, as well as whether their behavior contributes to a functioning society. This film also illustrates the important theme that behavior is indicative of the individuals social class.

Described in the article “‘a runaway crisis’: Argentina activists aid shanty towns state has left behind,” the poorest districts are in need of the most civil services, yet state employees rarely intervene because “they are afraid to go into the shanty towns because of the crime there, but they wouldn’t know anyhow how to navigate them [anyway]…” Without the interest to help from state services, poverty-stricken residents of the boarding houses are often forced to come together as a community and look inwards for solutions to their own struggles. This bond between peoples who share a similar unfortunate situation ignites strong unity in which an “us vs them” ideal is born. Therefore, Ruiz and his friends are seen making fun of and looking down upon peoples of different social standing because Ruiz resents the fact that those people grew up with a better life; whereas Ruiz and his friends had to continue to fight and struggle for everything they had.