You have to access the film via the UCSD Library Swank digital campus: UC San Diego Streaming Library
Each student is responsible for posting a one-paragraph response to that Discussion’s readings and posing one discussion question that we may use for interaction or for lecture-discussion. Please also reply to at least two of your peer’s responses.
The responses are not academic essays but rather opportunities for you to meaningfully engage with the themes of the readings. Simply summarizing the readings will only achieve you 10 points, your interpretation or analysis would add 10 more points, the discussion question 5 points, and the interaction with your peers 5 more points for a total of 30 points per posting. Consider what concept, idea, or takeaway did you find most meaningful?
As the quarter progress, your goal is to further develop your analytic skills. Eventually, your postings should engage the readings’ content and draw connections between readings. Important: 1) Plagiarized/copied responses will earn 0 points, 2) posts should be at least 125 words, and 3) good luck.
to access the library’s catalog from outside the u.c. network, please visit and follow the directions at this link
There is also this link to the film: https://www.pbs.org/video/touch-of-evil-1958-p6uowl/
Please also reply to these two students:
A: This film really ties in closely with the Tijuana Cinema piece, it shows everything that was written about. The gangs, drugs, the easy access people had to cross the border. Touch of Evil centers around a corrupt officer in what I’m sure would be San Diego. I think that the drunken officer in this movie is a way of representing the American people’s portrayal of Mexicans/ Tijuana. He represents how the powerful people who would cross, took advantage of the lenient border to go into another country with less strict laws to let loose. Tijuana became a popular hub for important people, which brought a lot of attention to the city. This film was a clear example even 30 minutes in to show us how Tijuana was truly portrayed in Hollywood. Touch of Evil shows how Tijuana was portrayed, the “black legend” continues to hold true especially with journalist who do dangerous articles. This film gives us an insight to how police cases would’ve been handled in the 1930-50s.
If Tijuana was growing, why would Hollywood show old buildings instead of the new casinos and locations that were being built? What happened to his wife, how did those women get access to her?
B: This film encompasses exactly what the stereotype is at a border city with the drugs, gangs, and violence. The American officer and police enforcement seemed to be more biased and thought that they would be able to get away with framing the innocent boy of having two bombs, whereas Vargas, the Mexican investigator was weary of the tactics the American officer was taking. This just shows that Americans are just taking advantage of their power and not solving the case with any evidence of integrity. In this case the officer saw that as essentially an easy case and he could’ve put blame on any Mexican civilian and everyone would believe it. The Touch of Evil touches on the unjust evictions that are constantly happening because of the stereotypes placed on Mexicans.
I find it interesting that the producers created the friendship between the American officer and Vargas, the Mexican investigator because it kind of shows that if they were to only work together they could have solved the case earlier. I think this was probably something that could have been controversial especially during the 1950’s when the film came out because Mexican Americans probably resented the Americans for their deportations and expulsions during the time.
What stood out to me most was how consistent the producer was about keeping the gangs, drinking, and drugs very apparent in the film. It was almost like it was just as important as the plot of the film and I think because of this constant indication it shows that the culture and the city is fueled by these components. I wonder if the producers did this to show that Mexico is still trying to overcome these issues or because they wanted to highlight the police brutality that is projected in this film?
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