The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.

Note that signs on their own, while sometimes interesting, only become truly revelatory and useful once they’re sorted into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.

“ULTRA-DRAMA” NORM: A sense that Mexico enjoys operatic expressions of emotion, and melodramatic stories.

“ULTRA-DRAMA” FORMS: Stereotypically, Mexico enjoys the “pink” telenovela — melodramatic love stories, without much or any complex social commentary. Lucha libre, too, offers passion plays in which the battle of good vs. evil is dramatized. Frequent use of scarlet red and jet black.

From a 2021 study of “Mexican-ness” codes — as perceived in US culture.