






A recent article on Reuters Life! [Ed. Note: Excessive use of exclamation points— tsk, tsk] says Mexicans are stereotyped in America. With an opener that obvious, it wasn’t too surprising to discover that the entire article is shilling a new book whose title we won’t mention here just to piss off the author. But to his credit, he’s come up with some pretty bizarre angles to try and rehash the same old news. The first being that stereotypes are seductive,
Who doesn’t want to look like a hot Latina, who doesn’t want to be scared by a Mexican bandit?
We know we do. The second theory is that the traditional view of the Latino as subservient is just another thing we stole from the British:
A lot of the stereotypes of Mexicans that you find in the United States come from British stereotypes of the Spanish, they’re reruns. Spain and England were in war for many years. [sic] The United States and Mexico were very recently, in historical terms, at war with each other.
But just like when America remade “The Office” and replaced Ricky Gervais with Steve Carrell and the show got nominated for tons of Emmys and Carell became a big, Hollywood, mega-star who grosses millions at the box office, we did that stereotyping thing bigger and to more financial gain. Kiss it, England.
Stereotypes dominate U.S. views of Latinos [Reuters Life!]

The “swarthy, lazy Spaniard” — so close to Africa, in fact ruled by them (erm, the Moors), & what’s with all those “siestas” — gets another go-‘round though when Cate Blanchett reprises Elizabeth I in this fall’s Armada film. So, don’t count the English out, yet.
Posted by Biggie Smalls | August 02, 2007