Mafalda, the thoughtful and rebellious girl, celebrated her 60th anniversary

Buenos Aires, What do years matter?asks Mafalda in a strip, the irreverent cartoon girl who turned 60 last Sunday and who celebrated in a square in Buenos Aires, full of murals of this character who, turned into sculpture, populates the parks of the world.

Sixty years later, the rebellious girl is still valid and finds new ways of being narrated: the sculptures of the character that tour the squares of the world, the future series on Netflix and the Mafalda Immersive project, an exhibition that immerses itself in the world of comics through extended reality tools.

Mafalda’s speech is still more relevant than everstated Maitena, the Argentine cartoonist famous for her altered women, who participated in the celebration with the talk Mafalda and Quino told by Maitena.

Mafalda’s world is broken, hurt. He spoke, 60 years ago, about what is happening now with the planetMaitena sentence.

In one strip of the comic, Mafalda listens to an announcer on the radio: The government set maximum prices for essential itemsand the girl wonders: And how far is common sense?

With his reflections, the comic character crosses generations, and is read by parents and children.

I read it when I was little and I also read it now, as an adult; Today I read it with my daughtershared Adriana Sosa, 36, for whom Mafalda’s criticism are still valid.

Writers, comedians and cartoonists attended the celebration. There were also drawing workshops full of children who made their own version of the character or their friends from the cartoons, while posters with dialogues from the cartoon filled the square, hanging from the trees and nailed to the grass.

Mafalditas around the world

Mafalda was created by Joaquín Cinchona Lavado – who died four years ago –, published for the first time on September 29, 1964 and lastly on June 25, 1973.

His books were translated into more than 30 languages ​​and more than 20 million copies were sold in Argentina alone.

Now you can also enjoy an audiovisual version on a streaming platform. streaming, since Netflix announced in August that it will launch an animated series directed by Argentine director Juan José Campanella, winner of an Oscar award for The secret of his eyes.

It is a phenomenon that travels the world and not only on paper, but also in the sculptures of Pablo Irrgang, who inaugurated this Friday a figure of Mafalda in the Garden of the Arts of the Cultural Foundation in Santiago, Chile.

I am carrying mafalditas around the world (…) if the count is correct, this is the tenthsaid Irrgang at the inauguration.

The 80 centimeter high sculpture shows the girl with short hair and bangs wearing a red dress. Although the colors change in the other cities where the work is located, such as Lima, Caracas or Barcelona.

Mafalda is like a symbol of those ideals promoted by this girl who promoted peace, rebellious, rebellious, a symbol of my generation.said Irrgang, who will inaugurate more sculptures this year in Mexico, Madrid and São Paulo.

But Irrgang not only wants the squares of the world, but also intends to reach the United Nations Organization.

“In the comics, Mafalda always said that she wanted to be an interpreter at the United Nations to, as an interpreter, change the message to the interlocutors and promote peace. With Cinchona “We said it as a joke and now I am taking it on as a real challenge,” said Irrgang.

Mafalda constantly reinvents itself to reach new audiencesexplained Damián Kirzner, president of Newsock, the production company that is carrying out the Mafalda Inmersiva project.

It is a tour of different rooms where the life of the comic character will be represented, taking advantage of the resources provided by virtual and augmented reality technology, holograms, among others, and which is scheduled to open in Buenos Aires in the first half of 2026. .

They will be able to enter Mafalda’s apartment, or Manolito’s warehouse (another character in the strip)Kirzner explained.