Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Mexico Effect

The Mexican flag has a seal on it, violating NAVA's fourth "rule" of flag design. Typically, this dooms a flag to mediocrity, if not straight-up hideousness. However, the Mexican flag is not typical; it laughs in the face of NAVA's simplistic conventions. If the Mexican flag could talk, here's what it'd say to Wisconsin's flag:

"You know what the difference is between you and me? I make this look good."


(Taking a break from flag-speak for a brief minute, here is the recipe for a delightful drink called a Will Smiff: 1 part cheap vodka, 3 parts grapefruit juice, 3 parts yellow Gatorade.)

The Mexican flag's seal represents an eagle, holding a serpent in its talon, perched on top of a prickly pear cactus; the cactus is situated on a rock that rises above a lake. The prickly pear cactus alone would be tight, but throw in an eagle, a snake, a rock and a lake?! It's just too good to be true. If there's one flag to check out the next time you're tripping balls on peyote, it's Mexico's. The coat of arms is derived from an Aztec legend that their gods told them to build a city where they spot an eagle and a serpent, which is now Mexico City. Great stuff, almost as good as the whole "world ending in 2012" thing that your crazy aunt is talks about every time your family gets together. The colors of the flag are those of the Mexican liberation army, who freed Mexico from Spain.

Mexico's sick flag seems to be having an effect on it's American neighbors, because California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are all killing it in the flag department.

















California and Texas don't really show much of a Mexican influence, but they're sweet nonetheless. New Mexico and Arizona's flags appear to be actively beefing with Mexico's, as their use of yellow and red is intended to represent the influence of the Spanish on the Southwest, as opposed to the colors of the Mexican flag, which are those of the Mexican liberation army, who freed Mexico from Spain. Cross-border competition could be what is driving these states to such vexillogical success. Flags are key to delineating boundaries, so naturally they're more important, and hence have more thought put into them, on boundaries as dynamic as the US-Mexican border. The Pennsylvania-Delaware border just doesn't have the same juice for some reason, and it shows in their half-assed flags. Since when did the Twelve-Mile Circle lose its chutzpah? Alas, that's a question for another day. I'll leave you with what is, according to some, the only worthwhile bit of popular culture involving Delaware. I'm on board with that judgment.


1 comment:

  1. How does California get a pass on having the state name on its flag? I thought words were one of the biggest no-nos.

    ReplyDelete