A Day Without a Mexican

A Day Without a Mexican (Spanish: Un Día sin mexicanos) is a controversial film, directed by Sergio Arau, in which all the Latinos (see Terminology section below) in the U.S. state of California suddenly disappear. The film takes a satirical look at the range of effects on those Californians who remain.

Problems in the film

The main problems in the film have to do with terminology, the science of ethnicity, and the film's "pink fog".

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Terminology

In the United States, Hispanic generally refers to people whose background is from Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, or the original settlers of the traditionally Spanish- and Mexican-held Southwestern United States.

Related Topics:
United States - Hispanic - Spain - Spanish - Latin America - Southwestern United States

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In the United States, Latino generally refers to people living in the United States who are of Latin American background.

Related Topics:
Latino - Latin America

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The film's title implies that it will be a film about the disappearance of Mexicans, but it is actually about the disapearance of Latinos. In this sense, the filmmakers seem to be guilty of the error pointed out by the film's factoid that, "every Hispanic on the West coast is presumed to be Mexican".

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The film seems to use the terms Latino, Hispanic, Mexican, and illegal alien interchangably. See also: Chicano and Mexican-American.

Related Topics:
Illegal alien - Chicano - Mexican-American

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The science of ethnicity

Amongst the film's storylines is the scientific exploration of ethnicity. One of the characters is a "Biogenetics Engineer" named Dr. Takeshi, who claims that scientists worked to "isolate the particular molecules that determine the difference between one cultural group and another." Ethnicity is not determined by molecules. However it can be determined by examining certain DNA mutations. See genealogical DNA test and genetic genealogy.

Related Topics:
Storyline - Cultural - Molecule - DNA - Genealogical DNA test - Genetic genealogy

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The pink fog

Similar to the film Left Behind, in which devout Christians disappear, this film does not dwell on the mechanics of how Latinos disappear. The disappearance is coincidal with a "pink fog" which surrounds California. Nothing crosses the pink fog border, and it is said to be responsible for the lack of telephone and internet communications outside the State.

Related Topics:
Left Behind - Christian

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