Édgar's fall

Édgar's Fall (La Caída de Édgar) is a video that was uploaded to YouTube on May 8, 2006 from Mexico. This internet meme has been one of the most popular videos in YouTube, with 46,689,308 viewings as of January 16, 2016

History

The video clip features a young Mexican boy named Édgar, and his cousin, Fernando, hiking in a ranch near their home town of Monterrey with their uncle, Raúl, who serves as the cameraman and tour companion. The video starts with Édgar expressing fear when using a makeshift bridge made from two long branches that crosses a small stream when Fernando makes a joke about pushing Édgar off the bridge into the water. Fernando assures Édgar that nothing bad will happen, which temporarily consoles Édgar, and the latter commences the crossing. Once Édgar is at the middle of the bridge, Fernando starts moving one of the branches, causing Édgar to curse angrily in a Mexican norteño (more specifically, northeastern) accent, saying "¡Ya wey!, ¡pinche pendejo wey!, ¡ya!. After Édgar calls Fernando an "idiota" (idiot), Fernando drops the branch and Édgar finally loses his balance and plunges into the stream. Édgar curses more intensively as he emerges from the water, while Fernando asks for forgiveness.[1]

Impact on Mexico's popular media

Édgar's fall was the subject of much media exposure in Mexico, including in newspapers and on the TV news.[2]

There are ringtones, games, parodies, remixes and even a web page where Édgar is proposed for Mexico's presidency. There are over 20 versions of the video including Star Wars, Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, Counter Strike, Naruto, Mortal Kombat and Pokémon. Some publicity campaigns have made use of the video without concern for copyright issues, for example Nike's Joga Bonito campaign.

Édgar's Revenge

In 2007, Édgar, Fernando and Raúl were featured in a commercial called La Venganza de Édgar (Édgar's Revenge) for a Mexican cookie company, Gamesa. The commercial, which also became a viral video, parodies and re-enacts the situation seen in the original video. The curse words Édgar utters are beeped out. Instead of Édgar falling in the river, he screams "Guardias!" and suddenly Roman soldiers appear, to the shock of Fernando. Édgar orders the Roman guards to throw Fernando in the water by saying, "Al río, güey" and, despite Fernando's protests, they do so. At Édgar's command, Raúl is also thrown into the water.[3] The video was made by Gamesa's ad agency in Mexico, Olabuenaga Chemistri, and was aired for a short time.

This was part of a series of commercials for a brand of cookies called Emperador (Emperor); they showed people acting like they were a Roman Emperor, calling their guards to turn things in their favor.

YouTube México

In 2007, YouTube launched the Mexican version of its website, with content oriented towards Mexicans. During the launch, Édgar was present with Coyoacán Joe where he filmed a welcome video for YouTube México.[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ Guillermina Ortiz C. (10 October 2007). "¿Qué es lo que suben los mexicanos a YouTube?". EL UNIVERSAL.com.mx (in Spanish). EL UNIVERSAL. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  2. ↑ Julio Hernández López (18 May 2006). "ASTILLERO". La Jornada. DEMOS, Desarrollo de Medios, S.A. de C.V.Todos los Derechos Reservados. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  3. ↑ goc/jcm (19 February 2007). "Edgar, del video de YouTube a un comercial de galletas". El UNIVERSAL. El UNIVERSAL. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  4. ↑ Terra Actualidad - EFE (11 October 2007). "Youtube lanza versión de su portal exclusiva para México". Actualidad (in Spanish). Telefónica de España, S.A.U. Retrieved 29 May 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.