The depiction of Tijuana in American Cinema During the Prohibition Era:: The case of The Champ (1931)

Abstract

During the Prohibition Era in the United States, Tijuana was the target of a stigmatizing discourse propagated by the American moralistic media. These were intended to warn its citizens about the consequences of visiting this border town, due to the growing number of establishments dedicated to the vice industry. This essay looks to identify the presence of this discourse in one of the many American Prohibition films, The Champ (1931), directed by King Vidar. In addition to the film, various journalistic notes were consulted, especially from Southern California, which help us to better understand the context of this production, and which serve to see that, in the eyes of the US media, Tijuana was hell to which the South Californians were exposed. The bad portrayal of Mexico in Hollywood cinema was throughout the twentieth century a concern for Mexican authorities. The Champ, while not one of the most extreme examples of this, still contributed to this tradition of Hollywood cinema.