The link between machismo and Latino culture is strong.
It is so strong that Anglos who would like to seem tough often try to identify themselves with Hispanic culture. Nowhere is this more true than in movies and TV.
Clint Eastwood wore a poncho in his westerns. As a Secret Service agent in In the Line of Fire (1993), he called his gun a pistola. Cartoon bad-boy Bart Simpson knows enough Spanish to say, “Ay caramba.” whenever he is taken aback.
One of the toughest hombres (“men”) of all was an android: the killer cyborg in Terminator 2 (1991).
When blowing away enemies, the Austrian-accented cyborg played by Arnold Schwarzenegger liked to say a Spanglish goodbye: “Hasta la vista, baby”
