Introduction

**Chinatown - Classic Film Noir ** Film noir is generally associated with a ‘dark’ type of film in the era following WWII. Film’s that are categorized in this genre are marked by a style that generally contains certain distinguishing elements – dark rooms with Venetian blinds, dark alleys, rain-slicked streets, dark offices and low key lighting. The plot usually deals with the dark aspects of humanity-greed, murder, deceit and paranoia. There are also distinguishing characters, the main character a detective usually portrayed as a loner; a beautiful sensual femme-fatale who will use and eventually destroy the main character seducing him into crime. Although classic film noir generally is in reference to a style of film from the 40’s and 50’s, film noir form and style can be found in some contemporary [|films] . One of those being Roman Polanski’s __Chinatown__. Although Chinatown breaks certain rules of film noir – it was filmed in 1974 and is in COLOUR (black and white film is a traditional element of Film Noir) it models itself with formal elements of Film Noir genre including the sexy femme-fatale (with a twist), a protagonist main character seeking truth, and the plot laced with deceit, murder and greed. The film uses many shadows and dark and light contrasts. The low key soft lighting keeps the scenes dark and gloomy and projects the air of suspense. The viewer is told the story through the central character, Gittes, a hard-nosed detective in 1930’s LA, after he takes a case investigating adultery gets caught up in the middle of murder, lies and conspiracy- entangled into the dark side of humanity. When he meets the ‘real’ Evelyn, who comes across as mysterious, sensual and troubled, Gittes falls further into this web of corruption and complication as well as falling for Evelyn. The films keep the rhythm and pace slow seducing the viewer deep into the story. As in classic film noir Chinatown has a confrontational ending but with Chinatown there are surprising twists. We find the femme fatale has been a victim and is again a victim as she is shot. Gittes revelation that he has been wrong about Evelyn’s deceit also loses ending up with nothing. He loses the girl, and the crimes go unpunished. As the [|movie]  referenced ...”Its Chinatown…” Analysis of Chinatown The historical aspects of the film can be divided in to two parts. The first referring to the development of Los Angeles and the perception of the Great Depression, the second relating to the impact of the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal on the production of the film.  //__Chinatown __// lies between reality and fiction. Weaving a storyline of murder with no truthful grounding, the director simultaneously inserts names and historical allusions to trick the audience in to conceiving of it as a partial documentary. William Mulholland, represented by Mulray in //Chinatown //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">, was the superintendent of a private water company purchased by the city in 1904. Both Mulholland and the mayor constantly battled issues inherent to an expanding metropolis, searching for a replenishing supply of water. In their quest they came across Owens Valley, a small town 250 miles away which held a large enough water supply to quench Los Angeles’ budding demand. The two men devised a plan to build an aqueduct to connect Owens Valley to the city, “if they couldn’t bring water to LA they would bring LA to the water.” Several prominent businessmen, represented by the character Noah Cross, got wind of the project and began buying up land outside the city at deeply discounted prices knowing land value would soon increase because the city would need to pay a premium if they wished to run an aqueduct through private property into LA. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">When Towne began writing the screen play he knew that a history lesson of LA’s real-estate crime would not prove enticing for his audience. With this in mind, he ultimately embellished the script with the classic motif of a guy and a girl, woven into the supportive framework of the water scandals of the 1930s. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Cinematographically the movie relates back to the idea of blending old with new, as seen throughout the storyline. In the same manner that history is intertwined into the narrative to blur the lines between fact and fiction, stylistically the movie attempts the same feat. The opening credits, with their simple font on textured background, give the false assumption that the movie will be filmed in a 1930s manner. When the film begins, however, the audience is thrown right into the action with a provocative erotica photo that is purposively out of place for a 1930s production. Polanski furthers distorts the audience’s perception by shooting a 1930s style movie with a 1970s lens to achieve a dated art deco motif. This style keeps the viewer off-balance because its clash of different periods makes it difficult to definitively locate the film in either era. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Within the first minute of the film the audience is introduced to the protagonist, J.J. Gittes. Played by Jack Nicolson, Gittes is a snappily dressed coolly mannered man who at first glance could even be mistaken for a criminal. He is not your average private investigator driven by the higher moral purpose of bringing in crooked crops and cracking unsolved cases. In fact he is quite content with the job of spying on wives cheating on their husbands. In essence he is part of the mess Towne refers to as Chinatown. He is a hot headed, law breaking, smart mouthed criminal in pursuit of personal goals. Yet the audience is fixated and can’t help but root for his success. But r //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">ather than stepping back and reflecting on the bigger picture, //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Gittes is unwaveringly meticulous. Driven by a desire //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">to uncover clue after clue, //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">he falls victim to a character //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">flaw, and thus never truly grasps his larger purpose. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> For instance, though a solution to all his problems is presented to the detective at the start of the movie, even though it is right in front of his nose Gittes fails to see it. As a private detective he is paid for results not for the story so he naturally gravitates towards finding results rather than trying to understand what they all mean. This attitude of “shoot first, ask questions later” drives him in a roundabout way of finding the truth. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chinatown is a perfect title for a complex detective thriller with dimensions which are politically (about the nature of power), sexually (about the nature of gender), metaphysical (about nature of evil), physiological (about the nature of the self) and philosophical (about the nature of knowledge). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">On a political and metaphysical level the metaphor of Chinatown refers to the entire city of Los Angeles. To a greater extent it even encapsulates the reigning ethos of the United States in the 1930s, where it was impossible to distinguish between crook and upstanding citizen. Hence the saying in Chinatown, “it is better not to act and even better not to know.” The physiological and philosophical level referring most notably to Noah Cross’s statement, “At the right time and the right place most people are capable of almost anything.” Finally the statement of sexuality ties into the theme of voyeurism and female enigma present throughout and in particular to the bed scene featuring Gittes and Evelyn. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Polanski preferred Towne’s darker ending where Evelyn gets shot in the back of the head in Chinatown. The deep symbolism of the beautiful blond dying in Chinatown adds a final punch in the development of the idea of Chinatown as the birthplace of corruption and evil. Even after Gittes tries so hard to change the course of the future the film ends with Evelyn shot through the eye and Noah Cross winning. This ending provides an uncanny parallel to the story of Oedipus and the idea of the unalterable nature of destiny. The most effective method to drive home the rape of the water and land was to juxtapose it with the rape of the daughter. The political machination around water and power provided more of a social issue but by linking it to the Evelyn’s rape it provided a deeper personal outrage. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">For //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chinatown __//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">, Towne choose the generic and popular detective story. Polanski offered his unique directing of slow progression and tension build up for which he is so famous for in //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Rosemary’s Baby __// <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">and //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Pianist __////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Similarly to //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chinatown __////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">, the //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">violence in //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Rosemary’s Baby __// <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">and many of his other films takes the form of sexual abuse directed at children and women. Many critics speculate this is due to both him being an orphan child traumatized by the war experience and his recollection of the brutal murder of his wife by the Manson family **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">. **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">With regard to his personal experience in World War II, //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Pianist __// <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">and //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chinatown __// <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">share a similar mise-en-scene. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">While Warsaw and Los Angeles remain very different places one can’t help but notice the focus on their similarities in Polanski’s movies. In many scenes in //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chinatown __////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">, //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> the audience is exposed to downtown LA’s Chinatown much in the same way as the Warsaw ghetto is visibly cramped and confined. There still exists ethnic segregation in LA. The deep rooted racism first appearing in the china man joke in //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chinatown __// <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">is comparable to the negative sentiment often expressed by non-Jews in Poland at the pinnacle of Nazi Germany’s ascent. //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chinatown __//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> found audiences by dramatizing the disparity between the American Dream and the awful realities of Vietnam, Watergate, and racial inequality. Murder, violence, and political manipulation were reflected in American involvement in Vietnam and the political crimes of Watergate. Most of all //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chinatown __// <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">reflects Balzac’s famous <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|quote] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> that behind every great fortune there rests a crime.