The Mexican Image of Americans

Abstract

States. Few images reach them through the printed word, and, although half of the movies shown each week in the Mexican theaters are about the United States, almost all are Westerns which depict an outmoded if not fantastic version of American society and culture. On the other hand, they have a good deal of experience with Americans directly. The majority of adult males in many small towns in such centrally located states as Michoacan or Jalisco have been in the United States, and in nearly every Mexican town and urban neighborhood will be found some residents who have visited the country. Millions of contrabandos, or wetbacks, cross the border each year for varying lengths of time, and virtually every Mexican has some close friend or relative who is a permanent resident in the United States. The number of upperand middle-class Mexicans who have been students in American universities and who thereby know Americans and United States civilization is small compared with that of lower-class migrants.