Not All Mexicans Sit Under a Cactus and Drink Tequila---Explaining "Stereotyping"

Are All Mexicans Really Like That?

I was born in Mexico, and I have lived there all my life. When I travel to the States or abroad, I am confronted with the most surprising questions. One of the most memorable was, "Do you have cars in Mexico?" Sometimes I still can't believe that so many people have such a distorted view of Mexico. The concept of stereotyping, like in the movie “Nacho Libre”, helps explain why a large portion of the population has a distorted impression of Mexico and its inhabitants.


Stereotyping is the creating of an over-simplified image depicting a specific group of people. This image is often created by “outsiders”, people who are not part of the group being generalized; people who are not well-informed as to what those in the group are actually like. Stereotypes are mostly derived out of lack of information, since the stereotyping of a person or group of people consists in pointing out what seems to be the most obvious/recurrent characteristic of said person or group. The term refers to generalizing, to sorting out people according to labels which have been determined by another, misinformed, group of people that make up the largest part or general consensus. I will be further explaining “Stereotyping” by addressing the movie “Nacho Libre”, and how it distorts the image of Mexico and its inhabitants.

…”You mean not all Mexicans are poor and overtly religious?"---Exactly.


Before diving into my explication, take a minute to look at the following movie trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0uTN8hPpP0&feature=related


This movie perfectly exemplifies stereotyping in the following ways:

1. It is an oversimplified, uninformed depiction of Mexicans in that:

• Nacho is slightly overweight, has dark hair, dark eyes, and a mustache
• Nacho’s best friend, Esqueleto (Skeleton), is portrayed dark-skinned, dirty, animalistic, and starved.
• The setting is a run-down, poverty-stricken church/orphanage
• The town where Nacho does his shopping is portrayed as a brown, dusty, dirty place with no roads, and crumbling structures
• Mexicans are portrayed as overtly religious and, consequently, poor
• Mexican every-day life is portrayed as revolving around scarce food, and the occasional Lucha Libre match, otherwise uneventful.

2. This depiction of Mexico was created by "outsiders":

• It was directed by Jared Hess
• It starred Jack Black (and others)
• It was produced by Nickelodeon Movies
• Basically, this image was created by a predominantly American group of people who only focused on certain aspects of Mexican culture and society. 

3. The movie focuses ONLY on one side of Mexico:

• The film depicts Mexico as very rural and underdeveloped. 
• The film revolves around the extreme religiousness of certain Mexicans and how that affects their every day life
• The movie ONLY portrays the kind of life that can be found in modern-day Mexican pueblos, not everywhere else in Mexico.

THE RESULT is that people who watch "Nacho Libre", and otherwise lack sufficient information on Mexico,  will accept the image that the Media is providing as reality. Because the movie reached and will continue to reach a very broad audience, that large portion of the population will view Mexicans in a certain way (a way which was influenced by the movie). As a consequence of stereotypes, people have come up to me and asked, "Do you have McDonald's in Mexico?", "Do you ride a donkey to school?", "Are there roads in your city?". I've also met some people who don't believe me when I tell them I'm Mexican, they say"But you're white...and you speak English well...". Because so many types of media only focus on similar aspects of Mexico such as the one I mentioned above, Mexico has become, to the eyes ans ears of the audience, a place like the one you saw on the movie trailer.

I am Mexican, and I am here to say that not all Mexicans are like those portrayed in the movie, and that not all of Mexico is dusty and underdeveloped. Mexico is a place where technology and architecture are thriving. It is a place where traditions meet innovations. Yes, we have McDonald's. No, I do not ride a donkey to school. There are thousands of roads in my city and they are overflowing with cars of all shapes, colors, and sizes.
So, stereotypes shine a specific light on a certain group of people, but lets not forget that all groups of people are multi-layered, and hard to be labeled as just one kind of thing.