Mafalda And Her Friends

UNESCO Courier, July, 2000

In 1969, the Italian semiologist Umberto Eco presented Mafalda to Europe with these words: "Since our children are soon to become through our choice a multitude of Mafaldas, it would be rash not to treat Mafalda with the respect a real person deserves." But who is this six-year-old girl whose name has been given to a square, who was on the verge of being named an Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires and was chosen as one of the 10 most influential Argentine women of the 20th century? "The important thing is not what I think of Mafalda, but what Mafalda thinks of me," said the writer Julio Cortazar about this irreverent little girl who worships the Beatles, hates soup, and is concerned about the Cold War and the health of Planet Earth.

Mafalda shares her concerns with her parents, who she never ceases to ply with impertinent questions ("Have you two planned our education or are you just making it up as you go along?"), and with her brother Cuille, the personification of childish innocence. The gang is rounded o ff by the materialistic Manolito (son of the local shopkeeper who dreams about owning a chain of supermarkets), the timid romantic Felipe (who is always looking for excuses not to got to school), the narcissistic Miguelito, Susanita (who hopes to be a housewife and the mother of a large family), and Libertad, the smallest of them all. "I drew her like that because freedom always seems small," recalls Quino.