The US-Mexico Border in American Cold War Film: Romance, Revolution, and Regulation

233 Pages·2015·1.585 MB·English

by  Stephanie Fuller (auth.)

THE US-MEXICO
BORDER IN AMERICAN
COLD WAR FILM
Romance, Revolution,
and Regulation
STEPHANIE FULLER
THE US-MEXICO BORDER IN AMERICAN
COLD WAR FILM
SCREENING SPACES
Series editor: Pamela Robertson Wojcik
Screening Spaces is a series dedicated to showcasing interdisciplinary books
that explore the multiple and various intersections of space, place, and screen
cultures.
Cinema, Gender, and Everyday Space: Comedy, Italian Style
Natalie Fullwood
The US-Mexico Border in American Cold War Film: Romance, Revolution,
and Regulation
Stephanie Fuller
Movie Towns and Sitcom Suburbs: Building Hollywood’s Ideal Communities
Stephen Rowley
Cinematic Geographies and Multicultural Spectatorship in America
Amy Lynn Corbin
The US-Mexico Border in
American Cold War Film
Romance, Revolution, and Regulation
Stephanie Fuller
THE US-MEXICO BORDER IN AMERICAN COLD WAR FILM
Copyright © Stephanie Fuller 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-53856-7
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this
publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written
permission. In accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited
copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10
Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
The author has asserted their right to be identifi ed as the author of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers
Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of Nature America, Inc., One
New York Plaza, Suite 4500, New York, NY 10004-1562.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
ISBN: 978-1-349-57856-6
E-PDF ISBN: 978-1-137-53560-3
DOI: 10.1057/9781137535603
Distribution in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world is by Palgrave
Macmillan®, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in
England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fuller, Stephanie, 1983–
The US-Mexico Border in American Cold War Film : Romance,
Revolution, and Regulation / by Stephanie Fuller.
pages cm.—(Screening spaces)
Based on the author’s thesis (doctoral—University of East Anglia.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Includes filmography.
1. Mexican-American Border Region—In motion pictures. 2. Motion
pictures—United States—History—20th century. 3. Borderlands in
motion pictures. 4. Tourism in motion pictures. 5. Immigrants in
motion pictures. 6. Aliens in motion pictures. I. Title. II. Title:
United States-Mexico border in American Cold War film.
PN1995.9.M48F85 2015
791.439658721—dc23 2015015275
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Contents
List of Figures v ii
Acknowledgments i x
Introduction
Screening the Spaces of the US-Mexico Border 1
Part I Romance
Chapter 1
The Romance of Mexico: Tourists, Fugitives, and
Escaping the United States 21
Chapter 2
Mapping Borders and Identity: Representation,
Transformation, and Ethnicity 33
Chapter 3
Danger, Disappearance, and the Exotic: American
Travelers and Mexican Migrants 5 1
Part II Revolution
Chapter 4
The Revolutionary Politics of Mexico: Individualism,
Communitarianism, and Landscape 6 7
Chapter 5
Territory, Colonialism, and Gender at the American
Frontier 81
vi CONTENTS
Part III Regulation
Chapter 6
Ethnicity, Imperialism, and the Law: Policing Identities at the
Border 97
Chapter 7
Border Cities as Contested Space: Postcolonial Resistance
in Tijuana 113
Chapter 8
Imperial Journeys and Traveling Shots: Regulation, Power,
and Mobility 129
Conclusion
Border Film and Border Studies 147
Appendix A: Indicative List of Cold War Border Films 153
Notes 1 57
Filmography 1 91
Bibliography 197
Index 225
Figures
0.1 T he closing scenes of S tagecoach see an early and
iconic border crossing into Mexico 2
1.1 Where Danger Lives puts its protagonists on the road 28
2.1 Signs and symbols explicitly locate audiences in
Mexico in Borderline 3 7
3.1 The colonizing power of maps in Wetbacks 5 9
4.1 J uaristas are closely connected with the traditional
architecture and Mexican landscape in Vera Cruz 77
5.1 Attempts to control and contain Carmelita Carias in
Border River 9 0
6.1 T he US-Mexico border fence highlights the entrapment
facing Mexican migrant workers in B order Incident 9 8
7.1 Cars stream across the border into Mexico in
The Tijuana Story 119
8.1 The detritus of American capitalist society suffocates
the border town of T ouch of Evil 144
C.1 Monsters imagines the US-Mexico border of the future 1 50

Acknowledgments
T
his book is based on research undertaken for my PhD at the
University of East Anglia (UEA), which was funded by the Arts
and Humanities Research Council, studentship award reference
AH/I009582/1. I would like to thank the Screening Spaces series
editor, Pam Wojcik, for her valuable feedback and guidance on the
process of turning my thesis into this book as well as Shaun Vigil,
Erica Buchman, and the Palgrave Macmillan team for all their assis-
tance. Many thanks also to my PhD supervisor Mark Jancovich for
advice and guidance throughout my time at UEA and to my examin-
ers Peter Stanfield and Tim Snelson for their useful feedback on the
thesis. Thanks are also due to Jann Matlock for support with the
initial project proposal. I am grateful to the helpful staff at the British
Film Institute library and the British Library for all their assistance.
I am extremely grateful to Nina Mickwitz and Sophie Halliday for
proofreading and providing comments on my thesis in its final stages,
and especially for our Thursday night drinks in Norwich.
I must also extend heartfelt thanks to a great many friends and
family who have given me their support throughout this process.
Special thanks to Rachel Eddy, Sarah Ross, and Jo Phillips for regu-
larly hosting me in London, visiting Norwich, and for some bril-
liant and much-needed holidays! I am also hugely grateful to Maria
Thomas for her encouragement and generous advice on all aspects
of academic life. Thanks as well to Mat Croft, Tamar Nissin, Eleri
Lloyd, and Anthony Lloyd for their friendship and support.
Special thanks are due to Matthew Woody for his continuous sup-
port and interest in my project, helpful ideas, and moving to Norwich
with me. To Sally, Graham, Carrie and Ellie Fuller, and Val and Roy
Muscutt, I will always be grateful for your love and encouragement
throughout my university career and for all the wonderful visits to
Long Buckby, Lincoln, Heacham, and San Felieu.