Edgar's fall

Edgar's fall (La caída de Edgar) is a video that was uploaded to YouTube in March 2006 from Mexico. This internet meme has been one of the most popular videos in YouTube, with 41,236,029 viewings as of August 26, 2014.

History

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

Impact on Mexico's popular media

Edgar'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 Edgar 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.

Edgar's Revenge

In 2007, Edgar, Fernando and Raúl made a commercial called La Venganza de Edgar (Edgar's Revenge) for a Mexican cookie company, Gamesa. The commercial, which also became a viral video, parodies the situation seen in the original video. The curse words Edgar utters are beeped out. Instead of Edgar falling in the river, he screams "Guardias!" and suddenly Roman soldiers appear, to the shock of Fernando. Edgar orders the Roman guards to throw Fernando in the water by saying, "Al río, güey" and, despite Fernando's protests, they do so. At Edgar'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, Edgar 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