Gender Stereotypes In Chinatown Film

Chinatown (1974), a film written by Robert Towne and directed by Roman Polanski is centered around Los Angeles during the 1920s. Because of its setting and era, the film has cinematic style and and thematic elements that allude to “film noir”, a common genre for 1920s films. One aspect commonly brought up in this genre is gender role, specifically that of women, during the noir era . Polanski’s film references the common noir archetype of “femme fatale”, a lying, seducing female character who brings men to their destruction. He also nods to the common belief of the time, that men are strong and powerful heroes looking to find truth. However, because it falls into a more modern, “neo-noir” category, Chinatown brings the roles of women to a new light, and draws attention to the problems in society of the time when it comes to gender, both male and female.

Those who broke this stereotype were often considered dangerous and not to be trusted. In the very first scene of Chinatown, we see a husband viewing photos of his wife cheating on him with another man. Later in the film, the morals of the 1920s society are shown when we see the wife in her home with bruises all over her face, presumably from the husband beating her. However, from the lack of reaction from main character Jake Gittes, it is evident that this type of male-dominant relationship is perfectly acceptable during the