Pan-American Highways: American Tourism to Mexico and 1950s Hollywood film

Authors

  • Stephanie Fuller University of East Anglia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2014.92

Keywords:

Mexico, automobiles, 1950s Hollywood, landscape, tourism, American national identity

Abstract

This article examines American films from the early 1950s which feature journeys to Mexico.  Movies such as Where Danger Lives (John Farrow, 1950), Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950), Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947) and Wetbacks (Hank McCune, 1954) present journeys to Mexico as escapes from American life in which romanticised freedom is closely connected to mobility and automobiles.  The article explores the connection between the films’ cinematic vistas of Mexican landscapes and American tourism to Mexico in this period.  Through their journeys to and across the border, these films call the wider relationship between the US and Mexico into question as national identities are constructed through travel, landscape and touristic encounters.

Author Biography

Stephanie Fuller, University of East Anglia

I recently completed my PhD in film studies in the School of Film, Television and Media at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and my thesis examined the relationship between space and politics in post-second world war American cinema, focusing on films set on and around the US-Mexico border.  I am currently teaching a module on science fiction film and television at UEA.

References

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Published

2014-10-13

How to Cite

Fuller, S. (2014). Pan-American Highways: American Tourism to Mexico and 1950s Hollywood film. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 3(2), 5–33. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2014.92

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2014): Spring 2014

Section

Articles

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