That Misogynistic Mexican High School Video Was Meant to Be 'Satire,' Alumni Say Rafa Fernandez de Castro and Tania Miranda - Fusion
go to original April 1, 2015

A week after the release of a Mexican private high school’s polemic music video that has been excoriated by media and society as misogynistic, classist, and generally obnoxious, some students and alumni remain largely unapologetic.

The professionally produced video, which was tucked behind a password protect following last week’s uproar, was commissioned by a group of students from this year’s graduating class from Instituto Cumbres. The seniors who star in the video boast a lavish lifestyle by posing with a pet jaguar, sipping champagne, and getting chased around Mexico City by adoring women.

While many Mexicans reacted to the video with outrage, former Cumbres students interviewed by Fusion insist the video might have crossed the line, but was intended in good fun. Those who aren’t laughing don’t get the joke, alumni claim.

“I see it as self-satire. These kids are exploiting the labels that have been placed on the school; that we are rich, that we are preppy, that we don’t care,” Cumbres alumni Rodolfo Gaxiola told Fusion. “Cumbres is like the Club America soccer team— it’s controversial no matter what, because the students there make themselves noticeable and are perceived as arrogant.”

Not everyone thinks the graduates’ attempt at “satire” was clever. Many Mexicans view the video as rich kids shamelessly flaunting their wealth and privilege in a country of haves and have-nots. The negative perception of the video was not good PR for Instituto Cumbres, which issued a formal apology last week. But no similar remorse has been shown by the students who participated in the video, or their parents.

Fusion reached out to several of the students who starred in the video, but didn’t receive a response by the time of publication.

Read the rest at Fusion

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