Taunts and ballot boxes. Caras y Caretas and the Sáenz Peña Law (Argentina, 1912)

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the construction of meaning about the argentine policial reality carried out by Caras y Caretas magazine during 1912. Thay year, electoral law 8.871 was established, wich established the obligatory, secret and universal male suffrage and legislative elections were held under the nwe regulations. The publication of miscellaneous character, low cost, burlesque tone and where image and Word were combined for the formulation of complex visual messages, stressed various facets of reality during its existence, especially those referring to the sociopolitical world. He disseminated the interweave of the political, in particular through his cover carttons, to a wide Reading public and composed of people who in many cases would turn to the polls for the firt time given the obligatory vote. We analize these cartoons in connection with others images and texts published in Caras y Caretas.