Saturday, July 05, 2008

What Else Would Speedy Gonzales Be Chasing?

Every time I relent and decide to reconsider the value of the criticism I have received for "outing" Speedy Gonzales as a handy purveyor of "Mexican"-ness in the Americas, I run into something like the bumper sticker below. The thesis of Tex[t]-Mex is pathetically simple: that the more you study it, the more you realize the semiotic history (and, unfortunately, destiny) of "Mexicans" in the Americas--"Mexican" are nothing more and nothing less that the choice U.S.A. synecdoche (part for whole, as in "all 'hands' [sailors] on deck") for criminality and sexuality.



Still and all, I love the little bugger and this bank does not totally suck!

1 comment:

  1. Interesting--all of Warner's stable of anthropomorphic A-listers "chase tale," whether of the hunter/game kind or the opposite sex, yet Speedy is the only one who gets the bumper sticker? Speaking of chasing tail...Memo: have you ever encountered a great study of the homoerotic underpinnings of so many WB cartoons?

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