History Main / SouthOfTheBorder

Note: This has nothing to do with the Fireworks Store and TouristTrap, ''South of The Border'', located 400 feet south of the North Carolina--South Carolina border.

* ''Mexican Hayride'', a now-obscure hit musical of 1944 that was made into an movie with AbbottAndCostello.

[[quoteright:193:[[Film/ThreeAmigos http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3amigos_7354.PNG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:193:Arriba!]]

->''The mariachis would serenade,\\

And we got typhoid and dysentery.''

* Part of ''RedDeadRedemption'' is set in the Mexico of the SpaghettiWestern and gets wrapped up in a civil war.

* The first episode (not counting the pilot) of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers''.

* The Kamp Krusty episode of ''TheSimpsons'' ended with Krusty taking the kids for a day of debauchery in Tijuana. The montage of still frames depicted a colonial-era walled city with an arched gate entrance and carnival-style booth entertainment. In reality, Tijuana is a modern city, founded relatively recently, traversed by a number of highways, with the strip malls and storefronts one would expect in an American business district, plus sprawling shanty towns that look miserable and intimidating, but colonial? Hardly...

Ah, UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}}. Home of the bustling, ancient and modern Mexico City, the gritty and industrial Monterrey, Puebla and its multiple hundred years of Spanish colonial history, the city called Guadalajara that mixes all the previous ones and adds a technological corridor, the heavenly beaches of Cancún and Los Cabos, the magnificent mountains of central Chihuahua and Durango, the lush wilderness of Yucatán...

Wait, what? Sorry, uh, we thought Mexico was home to, you know, stuff like the [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans Dí­a de los Muertos]], [[NiceHat sombreros]], lazy locals, burros (donkeys), tequila, {{chupacabra}}s, [[MaskedLuchador luchadores]], piñatas, chili, [[FirebreathingDiner incredibly spicy food]], lots of beans, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and a bunch of rundown]], [[TheSavageSouth filthy adobe huts in the middle of the desert or desperately poor, grubby towns]] that American criminals will [[RunForTheBorder escape to]].

Note: This has nothing to do with the Fireworks Store and TouristTrap, ''South of The Border'', located 400 feet south of the border with the State of North Carolina in Dillon, South Carolina.

* ''DrawnTogether'''s episode ''Mexican't buy my love''.

* ''Film/ThreeAmigos'': The setting.

* ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn''. [[spoiler: Aztec pyramids]]. On the border. ''Run by vampires''. AWESOME! Other Robert Rodriguez Mexican-themed films (like ''ElMariachi'', ''{{Desperado}}'', ''OnceUponATimeInMexico'', ''Film/{{Machete}}'') go for the more traditional "crime-ridden hellhole" feel, with his trademark [[LampshadeHanging tongue in cheek]].
* ''SpeciesTheAwakening''.
* ''Film/WereTheMillers''.

* As part of its arc of visiting [[HollywoodGeography strange interpretations]] of foreign countries, ''DigimonAdventure02'' had Yamato and Ken stop by Mexico to return rogue Digimon to the Digital World. Even by the standards of this arc, the interpretation of Mexico was really, ''really'' strange - apparently there's a legally enforced curfew, and armed military personnel guard the Palenque ruins and don't have a problem with threatening to shoot Japanese teenagers for no reason at all. While people were shown living in normal apartment buildings, the sole known Chosen representative of Mexico lives in a fairly unusual and plain stone building.

* The Kamp Krusty episode of ''TheSimpsons'' ended with Krusty taking the kids for a day of debauchery in Tijuana. The montage of still frames depicted a colonial-era walled city with an arched gate entrance and carnival-style booth entertainment. In reality, Tijuana is a modern city, traversed by a number of highways, with the strip malls and storefronts one would expect in an American business district.

* ''ElCazadorDeLaBruja''.
* MichikoToHatchin mostly set in Brazil

->''"The mariachis would serenade,\\
And [[IncessantChorus they would not shut up till they were paid]].\\

[[BreadEggsMilkSquick And we got typhoid and dysentery]]."''

Wait, what? Sorry, uh, we thought Mexico was home to, you know, stuff like the [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans Dí­a de los Muertos]], sombreros, lazy locals, burros, tequila, {{chupacabra}}s, [[MaskedLuchador luchadores]], piñatas, chili, [[FirebreathingDiner incredibly spicy food]], lots of beans, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and a bunch of rundown]], [[TheSavageSouth filthy adobe huts in the middle of the desert or desperately poor, grubby towns]] that American criminals will [[RunForTheBorder escape to]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' - In an episode where Cartman forms a megachurch and moves to Mexico, and Kenny is accidentally thrown off the bus while in Mexico City. Cartman gets a call from him during mass, where he claims that "if you drink the water, you piss blood out of your ass for ''hours''".

** Coupled with HEAVY doses of errors. Seriously, most of the native Mexican cultures KNEW about eclipses. In fact, most had culture that rivals European old societies. But then, along came Spain...
*** Except the Mayans in the movie knew that the eclipse was coming... That's why they did the sacrifices at just the right time, so the uneducated people would believe that the gods were satisfied and to get them to stop protesting.

Mexico City itself has played host to various films: ''Film/{{Dune}}'', ''Film/ConanTheDestroyer'', ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' (1990), and ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist''. Reports are often that Mexican authorities make things hard for the production crew.

And they would not shut up till they were paid.\\

And we got typhoid and dysentery."''

-->'''Policewoman:''' (comments on the problems "''[[YouFailGeographyForever Mexicans from Guatemala and Honduras]]''" cause).

If you are a [[AcceptableTarget WASP]] (and heroes often are), don't go down alleys, you will be surrounded by big, smirking, sweaty bullies who jeer and mock in Spanish, the only intelligible word being ''gringo'' (Roger Ebert's book names these guys the ''Latino Laughers''). You'll have to fight them.

[[quoteright:193:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3amigos_7354.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:193:[[Film/ThreeAmigos Arriba!]]]]

-->-- '''TomLehrer''', "In Old Mexico"

-->'''Policewoman:''' (shrugs) They're SouthOfTheBorder. Aren't they?.

* As quoted above, TomLehrer's "In Old Mexico" manages to pack just about feature of this trope into one four-minute song.

* The MMORPG ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has an area that is actually called SouthOfTheBorder. The adventures here alternately embrace and parody this stereotypical view of Mexico, with belligerent mariachis, cock-fighting, and little kids trying to sell you pickle-flavored chewing gum.

* There's a famous American TouristTrap along Interstate 95 called "South of the Border" (which is in fact just south of the border--between North and South Carolina) that plays all manner of Mexican stereotypes to the hilt, from the Cinco de Mayo decor to their mascot, an amiable Mexican sluggard named Pedro. It is primarily famous for its [[BillboardEpic billboards]]. A trip from Canada to Florida by car in 1996 rendered a count of 453 of these billboards. It was also where current Chairman of the Federal Reserve System, Ben Bernanke, got one of his first jobs. Yeah, [[BurgerFool ridiculous outfits]]!