When you think of celebrating our culture, chances are you think of all things food, traditions and probably language. But have you ever thought of honoring the Latino culture and upbringing through movie reviews? Thousands do it every week, thanks to The Old Barrio, a YouTube channel, based in Los Angeles, who explores Mexican identity and representation with film reviews of “Latin hood” movies.
Think of reviews about classics like Blood In Blood Out and La Vida Loca, but then throw in a forgotten gem featuring Actor Mel Gibson in a Mexican jail, called Get the Gringo. The Old Barrio reviews any “hood/crime movie that no one seems to cover.” And all reviews includes some “dumb” inside jokes and lots of “cholo” talk as well. According to the channel’s creator, who was brought up in East Los Angeles, his channel is all about honoring culture and smashing stereotypes.
Honoring Culture in The Old Barrio
The Old Barrio’s creator is anonymous — for now. He says he’ll do a face reveal when he gets to 250k subscribers, which may be soon. Currently at 47.6K subscribers and 4.9 million views, The Old Barrio’s online popularity is growing. For now, the anonymous creator uses an animated thumbnail based off of Magic Mike from the movie “Blood In Blood Out” as his online persona.
As a loyal subscriber to The Old Barrio, I contacted the creator and had a conversation with him to find out how he created the unique and popular channel so many of us love. I found out a lot.
The southern California roots of the channel’s creator influenced the creation of The Old Barrio. “I was reading ‘Blue Ocean Strategy,’ which talks about how being different is better than being better. That got me thinking about hood content. At random times, I’d talk with my sister or mom and joke around with cholo phrases, like how they do in the movies,” he said.
It seems that his subscribers have felt the same way. “I always say ‘ahhh come on foo’ to my friends and they have no idea why. Gotta take em around the Old Barrio for them to understand,” Jessenunez7205 comments.
The Origins of ‘The Old Barrio’
So, why is the channel named “The Old Barrio”?
The creator says the name idea came from when he was in Tijuana and saw some kids fighting in the street. “They were screaming, saying, ‘This is our neighborhood,’ and for some reason, I found it kind of funny—it just stuck in the back of my mind. Then I thought, ‘Old Barrio’’ sounds pretty classic and something simple,” he said.
When asked what impact he hopes his channel wil have on viewers who are not familiar with cholo or Latin cultures, the creator responded with how he does not have a race filter. If he wants to say something, he will say it.
‘If someone calls me a beaner, I don’t really care’
“If someone calls me a beaner, I don’t really care — I’ll probably just start craving a bean and cheese burrito right then and there,” he explains. “The difference between cholo culture and being in a gang isn’t necessarily about being a cholo. It’s about being in a gang and all that. But if you live in East LA and are Chicano, the lifestyle with the cars, the chilling, and the lowriders, is dope too.”
Reflecting on the neighborhood he grew up in, East LA, the Old Barrio critiques the gang culture he experienced and discusses why certain individuals continue making poor choices regardless of advice from elders by criticizing the senseless violence and misplaced pride in gang culture, noting that individuals often risk their lives.
“Growing up in East LA was kind of like living through a war zone, like the Afghanistan War,” the creator says. “Even when I was young, it didn’t make sense to me. The same thing with gangs — when my dad’s friends would ask what happened to someone, the answer was always, ‘Oh, they got shot,’ and I never understood it. The whole tagging thing didn’t make sense to me either.”
Tagging refers to a type of graffiti viewed by gangs to advertise themselves and is used by gangs as a form of communication.
“For me, it never made sense when people tagged their houses, especially when they were renting and planning to move to Santa Ana and no longer lived in East LA,” the creator tells me. “It’s property they don’t even own, yet they’re tagging it and willing to die for it.”
Doing it For the Fans
The voice behind “The Old Barrio” wants his audience to have the same exact feeling when one of his favorite YouTubers posts. He says he wants them to have the need to drop everything, grab some snacks, and relax with the new content. Mission accomplished.
Fans of the channel can’t get enough. For me, the witty reviews and Spanglish commentary keeps me coming back every week. One of my favorites is “Chola Mama Drama In “Mi Vida Loca” (Review).” Thousands, agree: you won’t find a movie review like this anywhere.
A fellow subscriber, @drawlingstuff2457, summed it all up: “Keep doing your thing man! I’ll keep watching.
To find out more, check out The Old Barrio on YouTube.
