Chinatown

Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” is not only a classic neo-noir movie, but it is also a grand cinematographic work of many layers, plot twists and character exploration. Although it is structured similarly to many noir movies, with a lonely male detective protagonist, femme fatale who turns out to be a victim, and a dark atmosphere of endless corruption, lies, and victory of power over justice, a great combination of genius screenplay, direction, and acting has brought it out of the genre’s lock and raised it to the status of a classic 20th century American tragedy. The best way to reveal the unique magic of Chinatown is to take a look at the details and the careful flow of the scenario that unravels the tragic battle between Jake Gittes’ strive for just and the world’s cruel nature.

 The paper will consequently discuss the themes of the paper, the motif and the symbol evident in the movie, in order to give the reader an inner understanding of the movie. 

The following are the themes evident in the movie:

Dishonesty of those in Power

In the movie, it is clearly evident that an honest, dependable leader can never exist, and this is only but a myth. Those in power are not what they actually seem to be, since their main agenda is usually to fulfill their needs, through hurting and harming their subjects. For instance, Cross, who is not entirely in power, has used money as a means of taking the advantage of those who are not as rich as he is (Polansky, n.p). Cross runs most parts of the city and its outskirts, because he has used money to buy the control of the city, thus making it easier for him to use people in order to fulfill how own personal gains. Money has allowed Cross to be able to use the district attorney as a puppet, whereby the district attorney follows his rules, of telling the police to ignore any form of crime that he commits.

Russ Yelburton, who is an extremely respected man, goes ahead to assassinate his boss, in order to enrich himself, thus forgetting about the general public. Lieutenant Escobar, who was a previous colleague of Jake, and who is highly respected by Jake, allows injustice to occur, without following the dictates of the law (Polansky, n.p). Those in power are consequently driven by the greed of making a lot of money, through corruption, thus forgetting about the duties which they are supposed to undertake.

     Corruption of the American Future

One of the common elements of the American future is the notion that the common people easily move into unclaimed wasteland thus changing it into productive land. Irrigation and water allowed the American west to shine, thus becoming rich and flourishing area as it currently is (Polansky, n.p). Due to the inventiveness of Mulwray, he was able to change the face of Los Angeles through the use of water, thus changing the area from a desert to a productive area, a move which Cross terms as a genius move. However, Cross uses this approach as a means of assassinating whoever goes against his beliefs. In addition, Yelburton is also compelled to go against the public and his role model, in order to gain a total control of the water.

The authority of America, comes with a lot of challenges, since one promises to support the common people, with the use of the available resources (Polansky, n.p). However, this changes after entry into power, since leaders become greedy, hence they are only concerned with their personal gains, hence forgetting about the needs of the common person. Cross becomes the killer of the American dream, through robbing off the struggling farmers, the most valuable resource, hence forcing them into bankruptcy. In other words, Chinatown, characterizes the American dream, as a real dream, since it is taken away by those in power through corruption.          

The following is the Motif Evident in the Movie:

Ignorance

In Chinatown, most people are ignorant of the corruption which surrounds them, a factor which affects their daily lives (Polansky, n.p). All through the movie, Jake is totally unable of providing evidence and coming up with clear reasons for his actions, in the cases which surround him. In addition, Ida Sessions confesses her ignorance, in the crime that she participated in, and she does not feel guilty of her actions. Similarly, Jake ignorantly tells Evelyn to allow the police handle the matter, when the proper way of handling the matter is through assassinating Evelyn.  

The following is Symbol Evident in the Movie

Chinatown

The name Chinatown, symbolizes a place where clandestine organizations rule, the law has no power, and good intentions are surpassed by bad actions, thus symbolizing the actual nature of different cities in the world (Polansky, n.p). Corruption has become a very common thing, whereby most people have decided to live with it, even determined leaders such as Lieutenant Escobar, and cannot fight it. Principled leadership is non-existent, and trusted and respected leaders such as Yelburton are more than determined to go against the wishes of the public, in order to fulfill their own needs.          

References

Polansky, Roman, director. "Chinatown." Paramount Pictures, 1974.