Projecting Mexico to the World: Updating Hybridity in Diablero (2018-2020)

The depiction of national identities in Netflix Originals has garnered significant attention due to the streaming giant's expansion into non-English-speaking markets and the production of glocal and transnational content. While these productions often integrate national themes and cultures, they tend to avoid addressing complex contemporary issues, leading to a limited portrayal of the nations featured. This partial representation can result in a reductive understanding of the depicted nation's culture and society. The article examines how hybridity permeates the narratives and characters in the Mexican series Diablero, projecting notions of a desirable contemporary Mexicanness that embraces both pre-Hispanic and European ancestries while being distinctly global. By analysing Netflix's strategies in Latin America and the concept of hybridity, the article explores how Diablero depicts the coexistence of European and pre-Hispanic cultures whilst presenting hybrid identities as a desirable quality in contemporary Mexico. The analysis posits that although the portrayal of Mexico’s society and hybridity is rather utopian in its tension-free configuration, its framing within the speculative fiction genre allows the portrayals to be read as ideal constructions and possibilities for new conceptualisations of Mexicanness.