Fresa
Encyclopedia
Fresa is a slang term often used in Mexico for a cultural stereotype
of superficiality
to youngsters of whom many come from a high class and educated family.
The term fresa (then often likened to the "preppy
" stereotype), was born in the 60's to define teenagers with a conservative mentality, who didn't drink and enjoyed being from traditional families. During the 80's the meaning changed and became a term to describe the lifestyles of the young and rich.
n countries due to international popularity of TV shows with fresa characters. In Venezuela
there is another word for the same people, which is "cotufa", which literally means popcorn. It is believed this term came from "Brain as small as a popcorn", but this term has its differences from the word "fresa". The term "cotufa" is actually more like the "dumb blonde
" stereotype, but in Venezuela they don't associate it directly to the hair color because it's seen on people with other hair colors. A closer term would be the word " sifrina", because it is directly related to rich, spoiled girls.
Fresa is sometimes considered the stereotypical opposite of naco
, however it is not always a derogatory word. Traditionally, teens who attend expensive schools or have wealthy parents (and are more likely to be fresas) are called "niños bien" (fine kids) or "gente bien" (fine people). The fresa accent is also different (faked) from the typical slow-pitched Mexican accent, with a higher established accent, different tone and "proper" vocabulary. Their clothing mostly consists from top mainstream brands such as: Abercrombie & Fitch
, Hollister Co.
, Lacoste, Armani plus other top brands, and are always seen shopping in well located shopping centers (malls) and always paying with cards instead of cash.
Things go back to the late 80s when (for the first time in Mexican society) kids, teenagers and even young adults started using stereotypically "fresa" behavior as a way of giving a false impression (deceiving) of their real social, economical (& educational) status. Since then, such tendency prevailed as a mainstream among the Mexicans until recent (and rather counter) new subcultures have risen and replace it, such as "Emos", "Goths", "Darks", "Punketos", "Tech-savvy teens", "Metrosexuals", "Barrio", "Chuntaros", "Rancholos", "Cosplayers", etc. (although there are many still stuck in the "Fresa" style).
Back in those days, it was a "privilege" to be mistaken by a real "Fresa". The copycats rapidly spread all over the country, and kick-offs replaced the quality of the original brands for cheap ones that deceived passing out as "originals". The brands of choice of the "Fresas" were Dolce & Gabanna, Zara
, Polo Ralph Lauren
, Furor
, Abercrombie & Fitch
, Reebok
, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger
, Rayban wayfarer, Banana Republic
, Hugo Boss
, Guess
, Levi's, Puma
, Armani, Calvin Klein
, American Eagle
, among others.
The bands and artists of choice, whose influence bred and helped expand the phenomenon were "Timbiriche
", "Flans
", "Maná
", "Luis Miguel
", "Sasha", "Pandora", "Mecano
", "RBD
", "Kudai
" etc. The places of choice were "The News Pedregal", "The Magic Circus", "Plaza Satelite", "Perisur", Santa Fe, "Plaza Inn", "Chazz", "El Ajusco", among others. Besides, as a part of every subculture, a "characteristic" dance was born: the "wavy", in which one would remain standing, sort of bouncing from left to right and all the way round while miming a "wavy" move with the opposite arm (lifted about the shoulder's level pararell to the floor). The magazine "Eres" was the most popular and influencing among adolescents and the radio station "WFM 96.9" was definitely the most important back in the day.
Fresas are mostly stereotyped as frivolous, self-centered and pretty much unintelligent; mostly as zombies who swirl through life solely thinking about "frivolous matters".
The word fresa is somewhat pejorative outside the fresa circles. Being called a fresa, for example, in a punk subculture could be considered an insult, as many of the people in other subcultures absolutely abhor fresas, and use the term as an insult.
The term fresa however, is scarcely used within the fresa circles, as people who live and belong to these circles don't view themselves as fresas and simply see the word as a term to describe their lifestyle; they view themselves simply as "normal" people and refuse to label themselves as something, even though people outside could see them as such. Rarely, if ever, will you hear someone who lives in this circle call another one a fresa.
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
of superficiality
Superficiality
'The principle of superficiality versus depth' has pervaded Western culture since at least the time of Plato: 'the dialectic of truth and appearance,' as the surface image of the latter 'competes with what Plato designates for us beyond appearance as being the Idea'.21stC urban parlance speaks of...
to youngsters of whom many come from a high class and educated family.
The term fresa (then often likened to the "preppy
Preppy
Preppy, preppie, or prep refers to a modern, widespread United States clique, often considered a subculture...
" stereotype), was born in the 60's to define teenagers with a conservative mentality, who didn't drink and enjoyed being from traditional families. During the 80's the meaning changed and became a term to describe the lifestyles of the young and rich.
Sociolinguistic use
Ever since it started being used, the term has referred to a specific lifestyle, behavior, habits, and other characteristics that have no specific relation to economic position or ethnicity, but that somehow ended up being factors of the phenomenon when these lifestyles and habits require certain aspects that only can be found in an upper class circle, although not being critically necessary because belonging to a fresa group is a matter of the way one thinks and act mainly. Some that call themselves fresas, are usually not part of it but a false attempt to belong in that group, authentic fresas doesn't consider themselves so, they naturally think, behave, and act into the stereotype without noticing it, and finding it totally normal. The term has been made popular in other Latin AmericaLatin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n countries due to international popularity of TV shows with fresa characters. In Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
there is another word for the same people, which is "cotufa", which literally means popcorn. It is believed this term came from "Brain as small as a popcorn", but this term has its differences from the word "fresa". The term "cotufa" is actually more like the "dumb blonde
Dumb blonde
The blonde stereotype, the stereotypical perception of blond-haired women, has two aspects. On one hand, over the history, blonde hair in women has been considered attractive and desirable...
" stereotype, but in Venezuela they don't associate it directly to the hair color because it's seen on people with other hair colors. A closer term would be the word " sifrina", because it is directly related to rich, spoiled girls.
Fresa is sometimes considered the stereotypical opposite of naco
Naco (slang)
Naco is a pejorative word often used in Mexican Spanish to describe the bad-mannered and poorly educated people of lower social classes. It is equivalent to 'white trash' in American English and culture...
, however it is not always a derogatory word. Traditionally, teens who attend expensive schools or have wealthy parents (and are more likely to be fresas) are called "niños bien" (fine kids) or "gente bien" (fine people). The fresa accent is also different (faked) from the typical slow-pitched Mexican accent, with a higher established accent, different tone and "proper" vocabulary. Their clothing mostly consists from top mainstream brands such as: Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch is an American retailer that focuses on casual wear for consumers aged 18 to 22. It has over 300 locations in the United States, and is expanding internationally....
, Hollister Co.
Hollister Co.
Hollister Co., sometimes advertised as Hollister or HCo., is an American lifestyle brand by Abercrombie & Fitch Co. The concept was originally designed to attract consumers aged 14–18 through its SoCal-inspired image and casual wear. Goods are available in-store and through the company's online store...
, Lacoste, Armani plus other top brands, and are always seen shopping in well located shopping centers (malls) and always paying with cards instead of cash.
Things go back to the late 80s when (for the first time in Mexican society) kids, teenagers and even young adults started using stereotypically "fresa" behavior as a way of giving a false impression (deceiving) of their real social, economical (& educational) status. Since then, such tendency prevailed as a mainstream among the Mexicans until recent (and rather counter) new subcultures have risen and replace it, such as "Emos", "Goths", "Darks", "Punketos", "Tech-savvy teens", "Metrosexuals", "Barrio", "Chuntaros", "Rancholos", "Cosplayers", etc. (although there are many still stuck in the "Fresa" style).
Back in those days, it was a "privilege" to be mistaken by a real "Fresa". The copycats rapidly spread all over the country, and kick-offs replaced the quality of the original brands for cheap ones that deceived passing out as "originals". The brands of choice of the "Fresas" were Dolce & Gabanna, Zara
Zara
-Places:*Zara, Turkey, district in the Turkish province of Sivas Province *Zara, Italian, Venetian, German and Hungarian name of the Adriatic port city of Zadar , former capital of Dalmatia, today in Croatia*Zara, Tibet, village in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China*Zara ,...
, Polo Ralph Lauren
Polo Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren Corporation is a luxury clothing and goods company of the American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren specializes in high-end casual/semi-formal wear for men and women, as well as accessories, fragrances, home and housewares...
, Furor
Furor
Besides the dictionary definition, furor may refer to:*Furor, a Spanish destroyer which fought in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War.*The Furor, a black metal band from Perth, Western Australia....
, Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch is an American retailer that focuses on casual wear for consumers aged 18 to 22. It has over 300 locations in the United States, and is expanding internationally....
, Reebok
Reebok
Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear company Adidas since 2005, is a producer of Athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle...
, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger
Thomas Jacob "Tommy" Hilfiger is an American fashion designer and founder of the premium lifestyle brand Tommy Hilfiger.-Early life:...
, Rayban wayfarer, Banana Republic
Banana Republic
Banana Republic is an American clothing brand founded by Mel and Patricia Ziegler in 1978 as a travel-themed clothing company; it has subsequently largely eliminated this tropical or travel-related theme. The company was bought by Gap in 1983...
, Hugo Boss
Hugo Boss
Hugo Ferdinand Boss was the founder of clothing company Hugo Boss.-Early life:Boss was born in Metzingen, Germany. After completing his apprenticeship and one year of employment, he founded his own company in Metzingen in 1923.-Support of Nazism:Boss joined the Nazi Party in 1931, two years before...
, Guess
Guess
The word guess commonly refers to a conjecture or estimation. To "guess" is to make a prediction without sufficient information or knowledge.Guess may also refer to:*Guess , an American name-brand clothing line...
, Levi's, Puma
PUMA AG
Puma SE, officially branded as PUMA, is a major German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear. Formed in 1924 as Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik by Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, relationships between the two brothers deteriorated until the two...
, Armani, Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry....
, American Eagle
American Eagle Outfitters
American Eagle Outfitters is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by Mark and Jerry Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company which also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear...
, among others.
The bands and artists of choice, whose influence bred and helped expand the phenomenon were "Timbiriche
Timbiriche
Timbiriche is the name of a Mexican group that debuted on April 30, 1982, during a broadcast of the news program Hoy Mismo with Alex Gongora and disbanded in 1994....
", "Flans
Flans
Flans was an all female Mexican pop music group, which enjoyed popularity from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s. Its members were the singers Ivonne Margarita Guevara García, Ilse María Olivo Schweinfurth and Irma Angélica Hernández Ochoa...
", "Maná
Maná
Maná is a pop rock band from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, whose career has spanned more than three decades. They have earned three Grammy Awards, seven Latin Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards Latin America, five Premios Juventud awards, nine Billboard Latin Music Awards and 13 Premios Lo...
", "Luis Miguel
Luis Miguel
Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri is a Mexican singer. He is widely known only by the name Luis Miguel and is often referred to as "El Sol de México"...
", "Sasha", "Pandora", "Mecano
Mecano
Mecano was a Spanish pop band whose debut coincided with La Movida Madrileña , a sociocultural movement that occurred in Madrid, Spain during the 1980s...
", "RBD
RBD
RBD was a two-time Latin-Grammy nominated Mexican pop group that gained popularity from Televisa's teen drama series Rebelde. RBD sold over 17 million digital downloads and over 20 million albums worldwide in four years since their formation, according to EMI...
", "Kudai
Kudai
Kudai was a Latin Grammy Award-Nominated Chilean pop group was founded in Santiago, Chile. Its original members were Tomás Cañas Manzi, Pablo Holman Concha, Nicole Natalino and Bárbara Sepúlveda Labra. In 2006 Nicole Natalino left the group citing personal reasons, and was replaced by Ecuadorian...
" etc. The places of choice were "The News Pedregal", "The Magic Circus", "Plaza Satelite", "Perisur", Santa Fe, "Plaza Inn", "Chazz", "El Ajusco", among others. Besides, as a part of every subculture, a "characteristic" dance was born: the "wavy", in which one would remain standing, sort of bouncing from left to right and all the way round while miming a "wavy" move with the opposite arm (lifted about the shoulder's level pararell to the floor). The magazine "Eres" was the most popular and influencing among adolescents and the radio station "WFM 96.9" was definitely the most important back in the day.
Fresa as a Subculture
Fresas have become something of a subculture in contemporary Mexico; like Metalheads and Punks, they dress in a certain way, speak in a certain way and live in a certain way. They are an abundant and very influential subculture with little or no knowledge of what happens outside their circles. But since the mid-90's the Hip-Hop and Reggeaton scenes have been taking over Mexico and other Latin American countries.Fresas are mostly stereotyped as frivolous, self-centered and pretty much unintelligent; mostly as zombies who swirl through life solely thinking about "frivolous matters".
The word fresa is somewhat pejorative outside the fresa circles. Being called a fresa, for example, in a punk subculture could be considered an insult, as many of the people in other subcultures absolutely abhor fresas, and use the term as an insult.
The term fresa however, is scarcely used within the fresa circles, as people who live and belong to these circles don't view themselves as fresas and simply see the word as a term to describe their lifestyle; they view themselves simply as "normal" people and refuse to label themselves as something, even though people outside could see them as such. Rarely, if ever, will you hear someone who lives in this circle call another one a fresa.
Fictional fresas
- A well-known "fresa" is the fictional persona El Pirrurris, created by comedian Luis de AlbaLuis de AlbaLuis de Alba is a Mexican comedian, famous for his character El Pirrurris . He also made other characters such as "El Raton Crispin" in which he dressed himself as a big fat rat from Veracruz. He had a saying that he always said...
, a parody of the so called juniors, the young and presumptuous children of Mexican politicians and entrepreneurs. Although this character is overacted and doesn't exactly match the real life fresa standards, he is often mentioned as a reference. - Jose Emilio Pacheco, in his novel "Las Batallas en el Desierto" written in 1981, exposes a series of characters that accurately represent diverse social Mexican subcultures from which we can have a more precise understanding of some social aspects in real-life interaction to comprehend how really several groups are.
- In the Mexican telenovela SoñadorasSoñadorasSoñadoras is a Mexican telenovela. It was produced by and broadcast on Televisa in 1998, and shown in 1999 on Univision.-Las Soñadoras:* Aracely Arámbula as Jaqueline de la Peña* Angélica Vale as Julieta Ruiz...
Angelica Vale plays Julieta, a teenager of lower middle class origins who often poses as a high society person by behaving like a fresa. - In the Mexican film Amar te dueleAmar te dueleAmar te duele is a 2002 dramatic film written by Carolina Rivera and directed by Fernando Sariñana. It is based on the classic play “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare. In the story, both families hate each other because they belong to different social classes...
the character Renata and her group of friends would be considered fresas. - In the Mexican telenovela "Amor en CustodiaAmor en CustodiaAmor en Custodia is a Colombian telenovela by Teleset for RCN Television, adapted by Julio Castañeda, starring Alejandra Borrero and Venezuelan Ernesto Calzadilla.1 will have its first premiere on 9 November 2009 in the Canal RCN.2...
" the character Bábara. - In the Mexican telenovela "Teresa" the characters Paulo and Aída.
- In the Mexican telenovela "RebeldeRebeldeRebelde was a Mexican telenovela produced by Televisa and created by Cris Morena. It is a remake of a famous Argentine series Rebelde Way adapted for the Mexican audience therefore leading to differences in characters' backgrounds. The series ran for three seasons, the final episode airing in...
" the character Mía Colucci. - In the Mexican telenovela "RebeldeRebeldeRebelde was a Mexican telenovela produced by Televisa and created by Cris Morena. It is a remake of a famous Argentine series Rebelde Way adapted for the Mexican audience therefore leading to differences in characters' backgrounds. The series ran for three seasons, the final episode airing in...
" the character Sol de la Riva..