La Santa #3

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  La Santa | 2017

One of the numerous symbolic figures of the Mexican culture is El Santo, the legend of the local mixed martial arts, lucha libre. This genre of sport is celebrated and adored Mexico-wide, this popularity might explain how El Santo, the luchador became a national hero: many feature films and television series were inspired by the character of the sportsman (in these movies the fighter himself appeared). The Spanish expression “El Santo” is a male noun with definite article of which meaning is: The Saint. Although there are female fighters (luchadoras), mixed martial arts is a typically male genre of sport. During the fight lucha libre fighters wear a mask (from which the eyes and mouth of the fighter are visible) which - through the unique combination of color and pattern - becomes the trademark of the fighter. The symbol of El Santo became his silver mask. Many news report such cases that prove the fact: in the present Mexico the inequality between genders is yet at that level like in the now gender-conscious Western Europe many decades ago. In Mexico women are still often regarded as expendable, secondary citizens. In the light of this fact, it is more conceivabile how a male mixed martial art fighter became a national hero. I deal with this social issue: I visualize the social expectations towards women in the form of the creation of a fictious female national hero, La Santa.