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 "Poor Mexico! So far from God, so close to the United States..."
Home of Speedy Gonzales, Bumblebee Man, and Guillermo Del Toro, Mexico can stir up more emotion in three syllables than can be wrought from a Wangst filled Romantic Plot Tumor. Whether it's love or hate depends entirely on the person.
— Porfirio Díaz
MediaPersons of interest (fictional and real):
Commonly associated tropes:
Useful Notes:
On MexicansMexico's almost as racially diverse as Brazil and Mexicans dance nearly as passionately as Cubans but with half the talent. Mexicans tend to range all over on the political spectrum, but seem to favor a strong government to take care of social policies. Due to the Philippines having been technically under New Spain, Mexicans also tend to have fairly close cultural ties with Filipinos. As per Hispanic custom, Mexicans have two family names: the first is the paternal one, and the second is the mother's. Because children only get the first family name of either parent only the father's name is passed on through successive generations. Also you can have more than one given name (think middle initial)... sometimes even three. And sometimes you even get single family names made of multiple family names. Example: former president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León. Women don't lose their maiden name when marrying, but traditionally added the husband's family name to their own, this has no legal value however. Mexican humor is largely formulaic and simplistic. For example shows and stand-up comedians mostly resort to tried and true jokes Older Than Radio. Comedy may rely on pure slapstick ("El Chavo"). Humor featuring social/political commentary is largely limited to printed media and the internet (Television rarely touches this stuff). The most characteristic type of humor is the "albur" (pronounced "al-BOOR") which consists in heavily sexual wordplay and double entendre, basically it's Getting Crap Past the Radar taken Up to Eleven since many people in the country already have the double entendres memorized, especially censors. The albur serves as the foremost justification that Mexicans have in believing themselves the most ingenious and good natured nation ever. If they make fun of others, rest assured they have developed a level of self deprecating humor Woody Allen would admire (before knocking himself for it). Since making fun of people based on their race, their gender, or their handicaps isn't considered as politically incorrect as it is in the US or the UK it may seem that Mexican comedy can be crass. But it's precisely because of their greater disregard towards political correctness that limits in Hollywood's depiction of Mexicans are rather set by Chicanos than by actual Mexicans. Another phenomenon is Malinchismo: a very old and widespread tendency to show any unjustified preference, however slight, for foreign over national stuff.In The MediaGenerally there are only a few stock Mexicans:
On The MediaDue to the relative backwardness of Mexico, broadcast commercial television is still by far the dominant medium in the country. There are two major broadcast networks: Televisa and Azteca, both private and suspect of being colluded in a duopoly cartel that decides what is or isn't shown on open air TV in the country, which would also explain why so many politicians bow to these companies' whims. Leaving this aside, there are also a few public cultural channels like Once TV and Canal 22, providing documentaries and cultural programming for those who do not have cable tv (and the latter channel earning several international accolades). Most of you should know the cheesy "Telenovelas", Lucha Libre and masked luchadores like El Santo or Blue Demon, and perhaps even El Chavo del ocho and that creepy Santa Claus movie MST3K riffed once. But there has been more stuff that, due to Creator Provincialism , might never see the light of day outside from Mexico, like lots and lots of old movies and sketch series made between the 40's and 70's. Like the rest of the world, cable and some commercial broadcast programming material consists heavily of imported American TV and films. Most newspapers in Mexico are unprofitable but survive thanks to bribes that local city or state governments or the drug cartels pay to keep them quiet on certain inconvenient issues and/or put a positive spin on those issues. Only a handful of papers (mostly those who enjoy national distribution or have a very large market) survive on their own. Mexico used to have a considerable comic book industry un The Forties and Fifties but due to prolonged decay comics nowadays are almost an underground movement. Even the most successful are often unable to reach a true national distribution, be it on magazines or newspapers. There are, however, a few comics that in spite of being very old still keep their fandoms, old and new, and some have become embedded in the national culture, like Kaliman, La Familia Burron and Memin Pinguin (the latter being responsible for a minor diplomatic incident due to African-American groups viewing it as racist, see above for Mexican attitudes towards political correctness). Traditional and cellular telephone services are quite inefficient and charge some of the highest service rates in the world. This in part due to the fact that most traditional phone land lines are serviced by a company called Telmex, property of Carlos Slim, the richest man on the planet, whose company enjoys a monopoly grant from the government. This has been changing as cable companies are entering the traditional phone services at a lower rate than Telmex, and recent laws allow people to switch companies without having to change phone numbers. The pop music industry is quite influential in the Spanish speaking world but it's very hampered because Mexico is a haven of copyright piracy. Local music that plays harder than 2 in the Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness was actively ostracized by mainstream media for decades, specially after the fiasco caused by the "Rock y Ruedas sobre Avándaro", in which the government had to step in due to a sudden Moral Panic. Another factor that stifled the genre preferences was Siempre en Domingo , a musical variety show displayed on Sundays, which, with a few exceptions, it was more a showcase of the presenter's favourite artists rather than a real musical variety show.
The film industry used to be the sixth in the country in terms of exports and it's also victim of the widespread piracy in Mexico. Mexican film making reached its Golden Age roughly from 1935 until 1960. In the 70's however the government introduced its own brand of Executive Meddling via financiation schemes that ended up virtually ruining the industry for more than 20 years. An alleged renaissance has been improving the quality encouraging the rise of new talent like directors Guillermo Del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and actors such as Guillermo Luna and Gael Garcia, however the industry still depends heavily on government subsidies and only releases between 50 and 100 films a year.
Mexican Food, certainly not Tex-MexThe cuisine is world-renowned for being colorful, intense, spicy, greasy, and fiery hot (on par with Korean or Thai food). Mexicans absolutely love chili peppers: you can find at least 10 varieties at any supermarket, it's present in pretty much every single dish, you can even buy candy made with dried chili, and any Mexican who can't stand them is automatically called a pansy. Most of the traditional dishes are a mix of traditional prehispanic and medieval Spanish food; the pozole, for example, is often made with Mexican corn grains, beans, tomatoes and chili peppers; and Spanish radish, lettuce / cabbage, and beef / pork. There are some exceptions, though: if you roll around the streets, chances are you'll find some stalls in the sidewalks selling tacos al pastor, which can be best described as "Mexican doner kebab" but frequently made of spiced pork, brought by a wave of Lebanese immigrants. And of course, there's the fair share of weirdo dishes, such as huitlacoche (fungus that grows on corn), chapulines (fried grasshoppers) and escamoles (fried ant larvae). Note that most average Mexicans will also squeam at these. And for the record: Taco Bell is not a Mexican company, though the recent opening of a few nearby has caused us great amusement. Their food is certainly absolutely not Mexican. And the taco bell Chihuahua? It was considered a culinary delicacy by the Aztecs. In general, Tex-Mex food is a blasphemous rip-off of Mexican food and is shunned by every respectable Mexican. Useful Tip: Do NOT tell a Mexican guest that you are taking him to a "Mexican Restaurant" unless you are 100% sure it is not actually Tex Mex. Take him anywhere else: Thai, Korean, even American Food (yes, there is such a thing... vaguely) is better on the off chance that the Mexican restaurant is actually Tex Mex. (Then again, globalization probably means it's going to be staffed by Chinese cooks anyway). If you do, the consequences will be dire... amused Take Thats, noting how the food is slightly (or hugely) off. Or feigned indignation, that is if any is registered. Honestly, take out a Mexican to dinner and you likely won't get any complaints: Free Food!On ChicanosIn case you can't tell, there also is a bit of an ongoing sore spot with the "Mexican-ness" of Mexican immigrants to the United States. While they're cut from the same cloth and are, in theory, "on the same side", Mexicans tend to dislike Latinos for being "traitors" who: left their country (even if forced by necessity), are forsaking their heritage to become like the ever loathed "gringo" (just like Mexicans in Mexico), and in general "aren't mexican" (see Tex Mex food). To be fair, polls usually show a lot of Mexicans willing to leave their country if they had the chance (in fact, Mexico has the highest emigration rate of any country in the world). Chicanos for their part, (particularly those born in the States) tend to view Mexicans as snobby, stuck up, and generally all too proud with very little to be proud of (in other words, elves). Generally, considering that most Mexicans place a high importance on personal relationships in general, this is ignored in families and constitutes one of the reasons why remesas (money orders) are sent by immigrants to families back home and ties are maintained despite the distance — to the point that entire towns live exclusively off money sent from abroad, and money orders are Mexico's second largest income after oil imports. Chicanos or "Pochos" in all honesty deserve their own Useful Notes page, but for now their search for an "identity" that doesn't compromise heritage and nationality is an ongoing issue for them as with other immigrant groups.An (not so) abridged history:Before it was colonized, it was home of and originator to some of the Precursors for the Olmec, Mayan, and Aztec civilizations. Expect them all to be lumped together when the Adventurer Archaeologist investigates ruins in search of treasure. But Mexicans don't care about those silly brown people. Well, not unless they're hot and/or there's a curse involved. It was colonized by Spain, those people in the funny metal Conquistador hats who looked for cities of gold (or means to get gold, they weren't picky), and proceeded to massacre the "cannibal natives" and "idol worshipers" with plagues and horses. (The plagues were actually unintentional but handy at first, inconvenient after victory). Hernán Cortés and his men were able to win against the Aztec empire by manipulating their unwilling subjects into an alliance. Fun and profit were had by all. And by all, we mean Cortés, his soldiers, and many of his native allies. Everyone else was either forcibly converted and enslaved in the Hacienda system (think Plantation) or killed. Even his native allies got sort of shafted, also being forcibly converted and becoming second class citizens below spaniards... which was still loads better than plebeian mexicans who were actually worse off than under the Aztecs, but who cares about them? Many things happened in the Colonial period, but for some reason the next 300 years are mostly ignored until "La Independencia!" Lots of shooting and fighting, wherein the Spanish rule is kicked out for being The Empire. Right after, one of the leaders of the winning group, Agustín de Iturbide, arranged for himself to be crowned emperor and ruled... 11 months. After that he was exiled, and executed when he decided to return. Then Guadalupe Victoria became the first presidente. His Meaningful Name and very Gender Blender Name is not an accident, as he picked it himself. After this, pop culture kind of skips the next 30 or so years of political infighting until the Mexican American War, at which point Mexicans become Red Shirts to attack The Alamo. By the way, don't bring this up in the company of polite Mexicans unless you want to hear an earful about how the US supported Texas' independence only to annex it and use it as a casus belli once Mexico attacked. Bring it up in the company of impolite Mexicans and, well... let's just say they can hold a grudge for centuries (just ask Spain). Worth noting is how Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (try to say that without stopping to breath), mostly known as Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna or just Santa Anna, went from Independence hero to eleven times president/dictator to national traitor, first class, due to the loss of the war and secession of almost half of their land to the victorious United States. It's because of his merry-go-round presidencies that Mexicans, to this day, distrust re-election on principle note . At some moment in 1838, France invades Mexico as payback because a baker's shop was destroyed in the fighting... among another things. Want to know the name of the war? "The Pastry War". Problems were far from over as there were two main groups who wanted to have complete influence in the political life of the country. One group were called the Conservadores, who believed that many mechanisms that worked well in Colonial Mexico should be maintained. Some also believed the country should be ruled by a European monarch (as they saw the republic system as the worst thing that happened to the country, what with the endless rebellions, coups d'etat, and lame duck governments). Opposing them were the Liberals, who believed the colonial past should be left behind in favor of modernization and decided to take the U.S. as an example of how things should be done. (They felt quite betrayed when their admired big brother invaded and took a good chunk of Mexico's territory). Then president Ignacio Comonfort was not as comfortable as his name suggests. He got a mixed cabinet of both liberals and conservatives and then self-coup d' état'ed. As it turns out, both groups engaged in mature and constructive debate for the betterment of the country via nasty war. Because of the already mentioned conflict the Mexican economy was in the red, so it was decided to suspend the foreign debt until some money could be collected to pay it. This wasn't of the liking of Spain (to whom Mexico owed the most), the British Empire (to whom Mexico owed a little less), and France (to whom Mexico owed the least), so they decided to send ships and soldiers to demand their money. When they arrived in the port of Veracruz, President Benito Juárez arranged a treaty promising that payment would be made... but not at the moment. Britain and Spain decided it was okay after having their ambassadors taken to a particularly underdeveloped area and realizing that they were shitting them not with "no freakin' money" and retired, but France moved inside the country as they planned to invade anyway... again. Napoleon the Third decided that it needed a French protectorate to stop the growth of influence of the United States, and believed that Mexico was the perfect place for his plans. Many of the Conservadores actually went to France to arrange this. The crown was offered to Maximilian, younger brother of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria * Franz, this family had some rotten luck in the 19th and 20th centuries)]] which made him brother in law of famous Sissy. One memorable event in between is when the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, led by Ignacio Zaragoza, beat their awesome croissants in "El Cinco de Mayo", and now Mexico got another holiday out of it (they kind of kicked the tacos around for a few years after that, but shh). This holiday is notable for being probably the sole honest-to-God pride of your country events in the whole history of Mexico, losing the war or not it was simply unbelievable for the French or the mexicans themselves that this paradise of coups d'etat defeated motherfucking France in a serious battle, sort of that short nerd in your classroom beating to a pulp the tall jock with all the chicks... only to have the whole football team handing his ass later, yeah, but still; "The weapons of Mexico have been covered in glory" indeed. The second Mexican empire lasted 3 years until it was defeated and Conservadores everywhere shot. The Liberales may have won the Civil War, but many political fights happened inside the victorious party as everybody wanted to be president. President Juárez went for reelection, but war hero and budding Magnificent Bastard Porfirio Díaz tried to rebel... and failed. Better luck next time! But, as good national heroes always do, Juárez died just in time (in 1872, merely one year after his reelection) to avoid going the way of Santa Ana into Infamy. Mexican "heroes" tend to end that way. (Harvey Dent was right about that). He was succeeded by the next in line for the job, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada (Sebastián, not Miguel, as both brothers were very important in the Liberal party), then after his time was up he also tried to postulate himself for reelection. Porfirio Díaz rebelled again... and won, won so hard that he got to rule Mexico for the next 30 years. He first ruled for 4 years or so, then put his compadre (godsib) Manuel González on the presidency, but his presidency sucked ass and Díaz decided to reelect himself (after all, where did it say people could get reelected in different president terms?). The hypocrisy of rebelling against a president for trying to rewrite the constitution to get reelected, then doing so for thirty years himself, was probably not lost on him, as he actually exalted the character and justified the actions of Juárez, to justify his own by proxy. Depending who you ask things were "relatively" dull under Porfirio Díaz's mostly enlightened "Presidency" until 1910 and "La Revolución!" (For some reason, Americans really dig this part of the Mexican history. As a Mexican school kid, all this troper can say is any civil war with more than three factions is a headache to keep track of (not complaining about the holiday, though). This is where you'll see "Bandidos" and outlaws, charismatic rebels like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata leading the peasants against the centre, small Mexican towns in need of rescue by Mighty Whitey, and quite a few westerns... (southerns?) Once La Revolución ends, Mexico had some nice, long 70 years of and the Jueves de Corpus Massacre were indications that the regime was slowly starting to go to oblivion. 10 days after the Tlatelolco Massacre, Mexico had the olympic games! It basically got to be an opportunity to whitewash the massacre, specially after Smith and Carlos raised their fists. Two years later, Mexico had her first Worlf Cup tournament, and the president got a huge whistle from angry spectators because of his poor administration (not to mention killing more than 200 students). After these things, you'd think Mexico would have at least some decent governor right? Enter José López 
The flag's green, white and red stripes derived from the colors of the National Liberation Army which rose up against Spain. To distinguish the flag from that of Italy, this flag uses a shorter height than the Italian flag, and adds the coat-of-arms. The arms depict a pictogram of Mexico City, relating to a legend about how the Aztecs were told by their gods to found a city on an island where they would see an eagle perched atop a cactus tree devouring a serpent.
Please keep this article from sneaking into Useful Notes On America — being this is an American wiki, "America" here stands for the USA, with the continent(s) being referred as "American continent(s)".
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alternative title(s): Mexico
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