Title: Whatever Happened to the Sleepy Mexican?: One Way to Be a Contemporary Mexican in a Changing World Order
Abstract: If Cuauhtemoc was alive today he would be a rock musician, possibly the lead guitarist and vocalist of his own group, possibly Sergio Arau. If Leonardo da Vinci was alive today, he would be a multi(un)disciplinary artist, possibly an airbrush master, political cartoonist, and film/video maker, possibly Sergio Arau. While it sounds irreverent to mention Cuauhtemocthe genius military commander of the Aztecs when Heman Cortez arrived on the shores of this continent-and Leonardo da Vinci in the same sentence, it is absolutely reasonable to describe Arau's eclectic career and aesthetic by combining the strength, worldview, and philosophical vision of the Aztecs, with the experimental spirit and artistic harmony of one of Western culture's sacred icons. Arau's work invades Western spaces with traditional Mexican popular culture; a behavior known as naco in Mexico. City is the world's largest metropolis. For most American minds (referring to the United States) the word Mexico conjures images of a poverty-stricken population, dirt roads, naked children, illegal immigrants, charro hats, fiestas, tacos, burritos, and lawless cantinas. Yes, Hollywood and the New York Times have been effective in obscuring the urban and cosmopolitan truths of and its capital city, the megalopolis. Citing the Student and Labor Movement of I968 as one of the country's most significant movements since 1917, intellectuals, artists, and historians have identified the Massacre of Tlatelolco' as the event that definitely divides Mexican life into an irreversible before and after. This break with the official image of the country, this before and after, was processed artistically through literature and all other disciplines. The steady rise of a professionally trained and more socially conscious middle class has opened up the possibility for a native and organic definition of Mexico's contemporary personality. The need and ability of these professionals to speak for themselves about their culture and personal lives
Publication Year: 1994
Publication Date: 1994-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 19
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