Bremner’s Article Analysis
“The death truck: how a solution to Mexico’s morgue crisis created a new horror” by Matthew Bremner is a catchy headline. I would have scrolled past it if it were not for the intriguing title. The article did not deter me because it has an exciting topic and well-structured text. The beginning of the story is full of suspense. The writer skillfully escalates the atmosphere of horror and creates “mental uncertainty” in the audience (Dictionary.com, n.d., para. 1), I did not feel uncomfortable reading the article, but it made me sad.
I felt sorry for both the relatives of the victims and all the people involved in the social catastrophe in Guadalajara and Mexico in general. It is very unsettling when one does not know what happened to their relative or when the authorities forbid relatives to identify the body. What resonated between the plot and me was the described impotence of the Guadalajara authorities and the general impasse (Bremner, 2021). I believe similar social patterns have emerged in the United States in the past few years. I would do this story despite the very depressing tone of the article. Even though things like morgues, corpses, and rot scare and repulse me.
Commentary on Article
The author made the right decision by making the beginning of the story in the style of hardboiled fiction with horror elements. However, I would focus more on the public opinion regarding the incident rather than describing the legal procedures that led to it. If I were doing a sequel to the article, I would cover all similar cases in Mexico, and my focus would be public outrage and cartel wars. The main problem of the article is descriptions of legal procedures such as the deal between the local authorities and the Logística Montes (Bremner, 2021). They appear periodically in the text, distract the readers’ attention, and tire them. Readers want to know more about dead bodies, cartel wars, and the disappearance of Cotero’s daughter. It may have been the reason why the article did not go viral.
References
Bremner, M. (2021). The death truck: How a solution to Mexico’s morgue crisis created a new horror. The Guardian. Web.
Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Suspense. In Dictionary.com. Web.