Mexican Retrogrades in the Wave of American Film Culture

Abstract

As one of the most penetrating media, film is an important expression of national cultural soft power. From the beginning of the 20th century to the present, American film culture has swept the world, directly or indirectly dominating the global screen entertainment. Relying on its mature film industry, the United States has rapidly penetrated its culture and values to the world, affecting the cultural identities of other countries. (Under the long-term hegemony of "Hollywood" values, the Mexican film culture as its neighbor has been seriously affected. In Hollywood films, Mexico seems to be synonymous with "chaos", "poverty" and "violence". For Mexican filmmakers, how to keep the Mexican style in the film in the "encirclement and suppression" of American films is the first problem, and then the goal is to show the real Mexico to the world. In response to this situation, some Mexican filmmakers have successively tried a genre-based creative path, transplanting the Hollywood genre film model into the local narrative, in order to achieve a balance between commerciality and artistry. This is also the goal that a group of Mexican filmmakers of the new genre have always pursued. They reject the domineering "cultural fusion" of Hollywood, but take the initiative to choose the "wall" that crosses national borders, galloping into the global film industry with Mexican concepts and creativity. One of the worthiest of exploration is the Mexican director Alessandro Gonzalez Inarito, because he has lived in the United States for a long time, so he has witnessed the situation of Mexicans in the United States, in his film The two perspectives of the United States and Mexico have appeared many times, intuitively revealing Mexico in the eyes of Americans. And almost all the films he shoots contain Mexican elements, trying to break the world's stereotypes about Mexico through the perspective of Mexicans. In the past ten years, Mexican films have made good news on the international stage and become one of the most active countries in the film industry in the world. Therefore, through the study of Alessandro's films, it is necessary to break the Mexico established by the United States and to re-establish the understanding of Mexico and its films.