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Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

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patria, la entidad suprema’. 159 Middle class youth went through an identity crisis, since<br />

they did not feel part of those social values and way of life. Some participated actively<br />

in social movements or armed guerrillas, mostly during 1970s, but others joined<br />

countercultural movements as a way to channel their rage against the authorities. 160<br />

Moreover, during the 1960s the hippie movement from the US had contact with<br />

Mexico, since some US hippies ventured south with an interest in Mexican culture. This<br />

included an interest in drug culture. 161 Young Mexicans found in hippie culture a way to<br />

express dissatisfaction with the establishment. They broke some rules, wearing long<br />

hair, dressing in psychedelic colours, but few actually left the family home or<br />

experienced free love 162 even though (like the US hippies) they may have supported the<br />

idea of a more liberated sexuality. This generation is portrayed in the film Mecánica<br />

Nacional. Young people appear enjoying ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’, dressing like<br />

hippies, and enjoying themselves at a distance from the adults. The influence of US<br />

culture can be seen when a US girl observes the party and comments that she sees<br />

nothing Mexican in it. Sexuality is also raised when the daughter of the main character<br />

decides to exert her freedom by having her first sexual relationship that evening. But<br />

when she is discovered by her parents, she and her boyfriend are forced to get married<br />

to atone for their transgression of the moral codes.<br />

The government opposed the countercultural movement, arguing that hippies<br />

threatened social values. Beginning in 1969, the government penalised their presence in<br />

Huautla, a small community famous for its hallucinogenic mushrooms, and those who<br />

were found there were beaten, jailed and deported. 163 In cities, the authorities pursued<br />

159 Gunia, ¿“Cuál es la onda”?... p. 115.<br />

160 Zolov, Rebeldes con causa… p. 177.<br />

161 José Agustín, La contracultura en México… p. 77.<br />

162 Zolov, Rebeldes con causa… p. 177.<br />

163 Eric Zolov, ‘Discovering a Land “Mysterious and Obvious”: The Renarrativizing of Postrevolutionary<br />

Mexico’, in Fragments of a Golden Age. The Politics of Culture in Mexico Since 1940, ed. By Gilbert<br />

70

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