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James Bond's Spectre, Coco and other pop-culture expressions have contributed to the commodification of a political satire.
The Catrina makeup has become one of the most popular costumes in Mexico during the Day of the Dead, with thousands of people uploading selfies and showing up in public places with a face painted as a skull. The trend is somewhat new, as disguising for the holiday was not common in Mexico until the influence of modern Halloween became too evident. Now both festivities blend during a week, especially in cities, with each one of them keeping their own distinct traits but sharing more elements each time. One of these elements is the Catrina, a Mexican-inspired image that is influencing both the Day of the Dead and Halloween.
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Since the mid 19 century, Mexican cartoonists used skeletons as a satirical way to criticize the upper-class in opposition publications. The idea was to depict them wearing expensive clothing, riding horses and having fun at fancy parties while ignoring reality for most Mexicans.
These skeletons were also used to illustrate the ‘calaveritas,’ epitaph-like poems written in a satirical way to make fun of a friend, a relative or a public figure, such as an unpopular politician, while playing with the idea of his or her decease. Death would visit the victim, finding itself in bizarre, comical situations that could be considered “inappropriate” outside of Mexico. The nature of the verses was very similar in spirit to that of the cartoons that came with them and both were popularized around the Day of the Dead celebrations. It’s said the first one was published in the ‘El Socialista’ newspaper in 1879.
Later on the cartoonist, Jose Guadalupe Posada engraved his most famous creation, the ‘Calavera Garbancera,’ or Garbancera Skull. Garbancera was a reference to chickpeas sellers in one sense but also referred to people that were of indigenous descent and pretended to be of European heritage, denying their real roots. Because these people would aim to dress in the fashion of Mexico’s aristocracy, called ‘catrines,’ the cartoon was popularized as ‘La Catrina.’
Posada’s cartoon showed a skeleton only wearing a fancy, feathered hat. According to the creator himself, the woman was pretending to be a member of the aristocracy, putting all her effort in her hat while remaining on her bare bones, without anything else to wear. Such was the Catrina.
The cartoon made fun of a growing trend in Mexico’s upper-class, and social climbers, to adopt French customs, clothing and even speech during the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz (1884-1911), one of Mexico’s most French-influenced historical moments. Ironically, Diaz fought against the Second French Intervention and exiled himself to Paris once he was ousted by the Mexican Revolution. Posada’s Catrina was drawn in 1912, at social unrest was generalized across the country, and the artist died shortly after.
It was this same pretentious feeling that the renowned Mexican muralist Diego Rivera expressed in his “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central,” painted between 1946 and 1947. In his mural, Rivera depicted members of the Mexican bourgeois and painted Posada holding hands with the Catrina, his own creation, at the center.
By this time, the Catrina had become one of the most popular graphic representations of Death in Mexican imagery. Death was “democratic,” as Posada used to say because everyone “ends up as bones”. What began as a critique towards the aristocratic pretentious society transformed into a general representation of death. As the ‘calaveritas’ were usually written for the Day of the Dead celebrations, the poems and the Catrinas have become key elements of the tradition of mainstream mestizo society, even permeating indigenous cultures.
In recent years the Catrina became the most popular custom for the Day of the Dead celebrations, heavily influenced by the Halloween tradition. People of all ages and social classes have adopted the Catrina makeup, aware or not of its political origins, and show their interpretations on social media.
The trend took on a whole new level thanks to James Bond movie ‘Spectre.’ The opening sequences take place during a (then) non-existent Day of the Day parade in Mexico City, featuring thousands of people dressed up as Catrinas and Catrines while Daniel Craig was doing stunts in the air.
The governor of Mexico City at that time, Miguel Angel Mancera, defended the move as a unique opportunity to promote tourism in the country, using a commodified version of the Day of the Day to promote Mexico’s folkloric elements abroad. A year later, Mexico City held its first official Day of the Dead Parade, organized by the secretary of tourism, and thousands showed up.
The Catrina emerged from popular culture and it remains there, but transformed by the dynamics of market needs. Its original meaning is virtually gone, as the Catrina is no longer used as a political satire. It still usually represents the bourgeoisie, but its use is every time more widespread and diverse, losing its critical aspect.
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