Misrepresentation of Basques by American pop-culture

American pop-culture’s ability to construct personal identity is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, vehicles of identity construction in the world today.

This is why misrepresentations of identity by American pop-culture need to be analyzed and deconstructed, such as that of the Basques in an episode of MacGyver. In this episode that aired in 1985, the Basques are portrayed as a group of guerilla terrorists, donning traditional uniform and boinas (Basque hats), who routinely kidnap North American tourists- in this case a geologist. According to MacGyver the Basques ‘Wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a geologist and a physicist’ – the Basques kidnapped the geologist because they wanted her to make an atomic bomb.

Needless to say, the episode is a source of much entertainment for Basques. Not only are all the actors that are supposed to be Basque either Mexican or Southern American, the so called ‘terrorists’ talk to each other in a gibberish language, don traditional Basque clothing (or loincloths), and use the irrintzi (a traditional Basque reverberating scream used in songs and festivals) as a war cry.

An irrintzi: