First of all, I was impressed about people not knowing where it is located. I know I love geography and I’ve got a school size map in my room, but seriously what do people learn at school?? Particularly the young people, OMG they’ve made the funniest comments.
I’m just going to clear up some things that I’ve heard .
So, let’s set the record straight!!!
ARGENTINA IS NOT IN SPAIN: I heard this one too many times. Yes, we do speak Spanish and yes, we were a Spanish colony over 200 years ago, but Argentina is in South America.
ARGENTINA IS NOT IN AFRICA: This was said to my friend when she was moving from the U.SA. to Argentina. I don’t know where people get this from, I don’t think the name sounds exotic or anything.
ARGENTINA IS NOT A TROPICAL COUNTRY: People have this image in their heads that we are in the Caribbean, with palm trees and pineapples. Not true, we’ve got 4 seasons (even though global warming keeps changing everything); in summer it can get really hot and in winter it gets really cold. Remember we are one of the southest countries in the world, we’ve got the Andes, it even snows in some regions.
ARGENTINA DOESN’T HAVE PARADISIAC BEACHES: I wish this bit was true, but it isn’t. The sand is not white and forget about the crystal clear water, not even warm water.
So guys, we all have internet now, Google it, check an updated map. Just do it and don’t sound completely clueless.
Second, It really annoys me when they use Argentina in the movies but they don’t do any research bout it. The stereotype that all Latinos are the same bugs me simply because we are all different, we don’t look the same, we don’t dress the same and, definitely, we don’t sound the same. So many people told me “Mexico and Argentina, same same”. No people, we are not, we are in two opposite extremes of Latin America, we just both speak the same language.
But let’s go back to what I was trying to point out. These are just some examples used on tv shows and movies.
FRIENDS: There is an episode where Phoebe is singing outside Monica’s restaurant, and she says that in Argentina you can buy a human spleen for 50 pesos. It’s true, Argentina has been one of the biggest points of transit for the black market since it was a Spanish colony, but I can assure you it’s not so easy and it’s definitely not so cheap.
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: Robin decides to move to Argentina and they show this kind of hut on the beach, an amazing one by the way, to be honest for me it looks more like a country in Central America. As I said before, we don’t have those amazing beaches. To make it worst, she meets Enrique Igleasias. He is Spanish, he doesn’t look Argentinian and he definitely doesn’t speak like us.
TOO FAST, TOO FURIOUS: The big narco guy in the movie is supposed to be Argentinian. In this case he might look like one (it’s a very diverse country, people came from everywhere, we are a mix of everything), but he doesn’t dress like one and he doesn’t speak like one either.
X-MEN FIRST CLASS: Biggest fail EVER!!! In this movie they show a little cottage in the mountain and it says VILLA GESELL. For the ones that don’t know, that town is one of the biggest beach destinations among locals, so they made a mistake. In my opinion, what they meant was Villa La Angostura, a beautiful town in Patagonia,south region of Argentina, located close to the mountains. But,apart from that, when they are at the bar the men start talking, and they don’t sound Argentinian!! Just because we are from Latin America doesn’t mean that we all speak the same (I know I said this a lot today, but it’s true, ask any other Spanish speaker), we don’t all say CABRON or COÑO.
So please Hollywood, PLEASE!!! Do your research before naming a country in your movies. Especially when you choose one you have no idea about.
Next time I’m going to tell you more about my country and the places you MUST visit.
But before I go, I’ll leave you some YouTube videos you should check, they are called “Argentina according to Hollywood”, they are hilarious, hope you enjoy them.
I’d also wanted to thank my friend, Nati Riveiro, for helping me with this post, our tv series knowledge was useful after all ;).