The Mexican peso (MXN), formally known as 'Nuevo peso mexicano', is the national currency of Mexico since 1993 It is used to trade goods and services within the country, as well as to make transactions with other countries. One Mexican peso is equal to one hundred centavos. Although it is a relatively new currency, the peso has been used for centuries for the same purpose, with its value changing depending on international trends.
One of the best examples of the Mexican peso being used in films is in the 1988 movie Rain Man, where the main character, Raymond Babbitt, uses it as a tool to gamble in Las Vegas. This includes counting out a few dozen pesos as he plays roulette in a casino. He also stores up a large amount of pesos to buy himself a car, but ends up losing them in the end.
Another example can be found in the film War Dogs (2016), where two young men try to become big-time arms dealers. One of the main characters, Efraim Diveroli, makes a deal with a Mexican drug lord where he trades five million dollars in cash for two million dollars in Mexican pesos. Later on, Efraim is caught trying to smuggle the pesos and is sent to prison.
The Mexican peso has also been featured in several television shows, such as Breaking Bad, where the protagonist Walter White pays his former student's hospital bill with a bag of Mexican pesos. In the show Narcos, the currency is used by the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar to transport money from his Colombian operation to his Mexican partners. The peso is also mentioned in the show Better Call Saul, when the main character Jimmy McGill pays a Mexican client for his legal services with a suitcase full of the currency.
The peso is featured in several books too, such as The Girl In The Spider's Web by Stieg Larsson, which features a scene where the protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, hides a substantial amount of money in her mattress, in the form of Mexican pesos. In the book The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow, two undercover detectives swap out their money for pesos to purchase drugs from a Mexican cartel.
Finally, the Mexican peso has been used in some plays too, such as The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare. In this play, one of the protagonists, Valentine, travels to Milan and comes across a character who gives him 20 pesos for his journey. In the play Fefu and Her Friends by Maria Irene Fornes, one of the characters, Fefu, gives another character, Julia, five pesos to buy food for the party.
In conclusion, the Mexican peso is a currency that has been used in a variety of mediums, from films and TV shows to books and plays. Through its use in all these different forms of media, the peso has become an important part of the Mexican culture and economy.