Diego Luna\u2019s new Netflix series challenges Mexican stereotypes and presents a radical take on Mexican masculinity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2021\/12\/todo-va-a-estar-bien-serie-1024x576.jpeg\")
Todo va a estar bien<\/em> and its writer and director Diego Luna<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe US has a fixation with Mexico on screen. From films like Savages<\/em><\/a> (2012) or Rambo: Last Blood<\/em><\/a> (2019), American dramas insist on presenting its southern neighbour as its negative counterpart. Much research including my own<\/a>, has explored these stereotypes and distortions and explains how Mexican and Latino men have a long history of being represented in film and television as greasers or bandits, gang members, violent guerrillas, and, more recently illegal immigrants, drug dealers and traffickers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2021\/12\/rambo-2.png\")
Rambo: Last Blood<\/em> (Adrian Grunberg, 2019)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nSadly, with the repeated production of narco-dramas<\/a> it seems little has changed in mainstream US takes on its southern neighbour. It is no wonder then that, if we are to believe some of the most extreme of US news platforms, so many US citizens fear Mexicans when films such as Traffic<\/em><\/a> (Soderbergh 2000), Peppermint<\/em><\/a> (Morel, 2018) Sicario<\/em><\/a> (Villeneuve 2015) and Sicario: Day of the Soldado<\/em> (<\/a>Sollima 2018) present them with depictions of hyper-violent Mexican criminals. Imagine every US citizen being portrayed in mainstream Mexican film and television as a gun-toting Trump supporter preparing for violent insurrection and you see the problem with this one-dimensional stereotype of Mexicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2021\/12\/Mafg3.png\")
Diego Luna as F\u00e9lix Gallardo in Narcos: Mexico<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nMany know the Mexican actor Diego Luna precisely from this focus on Mexican narco-criminality, among many other roles, as he plays ruthless drug kingpin F\u00e9lix Gallardo in the US produced Narcos: Mexico<\/em>.<\/a> However, Luna’s new show Everything Will be Fine<\/em> (Todo Va a Estar Bien<\/a><\/em>),<\/em> that he has produced, co-written and directed, aims to destroy these stereotypes and present a new and more realistic vision of Mexico and Mexican masculinity, without the presence of a single drug dealer or criminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n## Mexican Machismo<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nOf course, there are problems with toxic masculinity in Mexico as high levels of gender-based violence and femicide demonstrate<\/a>. In Mexico, as elsewhere in the world, women have been increasingly active in fighting against machismo, harassment, abuse and violence through the MeToo movement<\/a> and other forms of feminist activism. <\/p>\n\n\n\nNonetheless, despite the fact that Mexican machismo exists, stereotypes of Mexican male villains as circulated in the media, do not help to effect change, and have little bearing on reality for most Mexicans. Change is more likely when Mexicans see themselves, that is, people like them, represented on screen. As Luna argues through his new series, men need to reflect on structural patriarchy and alter their behaviours. Everything Will be Fine<\/em> is a thoughtful and radical series about the complexities of relationships and marriage in an era of feminism and MeToo, and is fundamentally about how men and a patriarchal society have to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2021\/12\/Everything-Will-Be-Fine-Netflix-1.jpeg\")
Todo va a estar bien\/Everything will be fine<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe series tells the story of a married middle-class couple in the process of separating; they are radio presenter, Ruy (Flavio Medina) and feminist designer, Julia (Luc\u00eda Uribe). Their relationship is falling apart, but they share a love for their young daughter Andrea (Isabella Vasquez Morales), who shares an uncanny resemblance with Luna himself. Julia has started a new relationship with a handsome genial dentist, Fausto (Pierre Louis), much to the dismay of Ruy, who initially follows the traditional script for jealous husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So far, so conventional, and yet, Luna and his creative team use this premise to raise significant questions in this series rooted in Mexico City, and of relevance to all of us. How can men take responsibility for their deep-rooted patriarchal values in an age of MeToo? What is the role of marriage when these values are called into question? Is the monogamous, heteronormative couple viable in today\u2019s society? Are there healthier alternatives that allow women and men to thrive and to escape convention and toxic relationships?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Becoming a New Man<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The series works through these questions and doesn\u2019t pretend that there are easy answers. Yet it proposes options that are surprisingly radical. Ruy\u2019s best friend is Raiza (\u00darsula Pruneda), a likeable lesbian in a throuple, and she, along with the men\u2019s group he attends, offer the protagonist guidance on how to be a man and how to form a new relationship with Julia in this new Mexico. Raiza teaches Ruy to let go of any sense of ownership over his wife, and opens his mind to non-exclusive, but consensual relationships. The men’s group workshops teach its participants, who are from all walks of life, about consent, respect for women and how to recognise their own sexist behaviours. All the participants express a desire to change, offering hope for a new and better Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruy gains an understanding that, if he is to evolve, radical new ways of thinking and new relationships are required. Yet, as the final episode reveals, individual actions alone are not enough and in effect, the series is calling for a gender and sexual revolution as unless there is a societal change, those who dare to question the norms will be subject to prejudice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The domestic servant<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The US has a fixation with Mexico on screen. From films like Savages<\/em><\/a> (2012) or Rambo: Last Blood<\/em><\/a> (2019), American dramas insist on presenting its southern neighbour as its negative counterpart. Much research including my own<\/a>, has explored these stereotypes and distortions and explains how Mexican and Latino men have a long history of being represented in film and television as greasers or bandits, gang members, violent guerrillas, and, more recently illegal immigrants, drug dealers and traffickers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sadly, with the repeated production of narco-dramas<\/a> it seems little has changed in mainstream US takes on its southern neighbour. It is no wonder then that, if we are to believe some of the most extreme of US news platforms, so many US citizens fear Mexicans when films such as Traffic<\/em><\/a> (Soderbergh 2000), Peppermint<\/em><\/a> (Morel, 2018) Sicario<\/em><\/a> (Villeneuve 2015) and Sicario: Day of the Soldado<\/em> (<\/a>Sollima 2018) present them with depictions of hyper-violent Mexican criminals. Imagine every US citizen being portrayed in mainstream Mexican film and television as a gun-toting Trump supporter preparing for violent insurrection and you see the problem with this one-dimensional stereotype of Mexicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many know the Mexican actor Diego Luna precisely from this focus on Mexican narco-criminality, among many other roles, as he plays ruthless drug kingpin F\u00e9lix Gallardo in the US produced Narcos: Mexico<\/em>.<\/a> However, Luna’s new show Everything Will be Fine<\/em> (Todo Va a Estar Bien<\/a><\/em>),<\/em> that he has produced, co-written and directed, aims to destroy these stereotypes and present a new and more realistic vision of Mexico and Mexican masculinity, without the presence of a single drug dealer or criminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, there are problems with toxic masculinity in Mexico as high levels of gender-based violence and femicide demonstrate<\/a>. In Mexico, as elsewhere in the world, women have been increasingly active in fighting against machismo, harassment, abuse and violence through the MeToo movement<\/a> and other forms of feminist activism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nonetheless, despite the fact that Mexican machismo exists, stereotypes of Mexican male villains as circulated in the media, do not help to effect change, and have little bearing on reality for most Mexicans. Change is more likely when Mexicans see themselves, that is, people like them, represented on screen. As Luna argues through his new series, men need to reflect on structural patriarchy and alter their behaviours. Everything Will be Fine<\/em> is a thoughtful and radical series about the complexities of relationships and marriage in an era of feminism and MeToo, and is fundamentally about how men and a patriarchal society have to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The series tells the story of a married middle-class couple in the process of separating; they are radio presenter, Ruy (Flavio Medina) and feminist designer, Julia (Luc\u00eda Uribe). Their relationship is falling apart, but they share a love for their young daughter Andrea (Isabella Vasquez Morales), who shares an uncanny resemblance with Luna himself. Julia has started a new relationship with a handsome genial dentist, Fausto (Pierre Louis), much to the dismay of Ruy, who initially follows the traditional script for jealous husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, so conventional, and yet, Luna and his creative team use this premise to raise significant questions in this series rooted in Mexico City, and of relevance to all of us. How can men take responsibility for their deep-rooted patriarchal values in an age of MeToo? What is the role of marriage when these values are called into question? Is the monogamous, heteronormative couple viable in today\u2019s society? Are there healthier alternatives that allow women and men to thrive and to escape convention and toxic relationships?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The series works through these questions and doesn\u2019t pretend that there are easy answers. Yet it proposes options that are surprisingly radical. Ruy\u2019s best friend is Raiza (\u00darsula Pruneda), a likeable lesbian in a throuple, and she, along with the men\u2019s group he attends, offer the protagonist guidance on how to be a man and how to form a new relationship with Julia in this new Mexico. Raiza teaches Ruy to let go of any sense of ownership over his wife, and opens his mind to non-exclusive, but consensual relationships. The men’s group workshops teach its participants, who are from all walks of life, about consent, respect for women and how to recognise their own sexist behaviours. All the participants express a desire to change, offering hope for a new and better Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ruy gains an understanding that, if he is to evolve, radical new ways of thinking and new relationships are required. Yet, as the final episode reveals, individual actions alone are not enough and in effect, the series is calling for a gender and sexual revolution as unless there is a societal change, those who dare to question the norms will be subject to prejudice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n## Mexican Machismo<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Becoming a New Man<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The domestic servant<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2021\/12\/images.jpeg\")