Y tu Mama Tambien (2002) shares many of the characteristic of Hollywood movies particularly the “bromance road-trip” genre that became more prominent after the release of Easy Rider (1969). Hollywood movies often use an “invisible style” which draws attention away from the film making process and tries to immerse the audience into the story. The presence of a narrator does quite the opposite for the audience, and this is why it is more common to deliver subtle pieces of information through the mise-en-scene, dialogue, diegetic or non-diegetic music, etc. Y tu Mama Tambien does quite the opposite as the narrator’s presence is seen throughout the film. However, the movie is not simply unusual in its frequent use of narration, but also in the way the narration is used. Instead of simply complimenting the situation, the narration is used to reveal socio-political issues that have been present in Mexico. The combination of the narration which forces the audience to reevaluate the situation by pulling them out of the immersive plot of the movie, and the socio-political issues that are being raised help make this a film on globalization.

In this way, the film deals with many issues. One of the most dominant is the question of class. The main protagonists, Julio and Tenoch, share a bond that could be described as fraternal, yet it is made clear that they are in different social class. And though, outwardly their friendship seems to be unaffected by these differences, the narrator tells us otherwise, “[b]ut as truth is always partial, some facts were omitted.  It was never mentioned how Julio lit matches to hide the smell after he used Tenoch’s bathroom.  Or that Tenoch used his foot to lift the toilet seat at Julio’s house”. These little snippets of information that are parsed throughout the film, suggest a hidden clash between the social classes. Though outwardly they seem to like brothers, there are differences that lay beneath the surface; these differences suggest that neither feel completely comfortable in the others home. “Class”, here, is used as an example, but the movie also uses narration to bring up questions of gender, race, political corruption and the emergence of a global economy.