Chinatown A bus pulls up to its stop on College Boulevard and passengers stream out. Cars are flowing steadily through the streets as I stand perfectly still on the street corner in an attempt to greedily absorb the smells, sights, and sounds. The green hand shaped light appears and I proceed to cross the street with an increasing sense of discovery. There were signs everywhere; mostly in Chinese characters. Some of the signs in English read: Dim Sum Lunch $3.50, English Books about Chinese
Chinatown Before the 1960s, the era of the Civil Rights Movement and People of Color Movements, ethnic towns were formed due to the anti-ethnic legislation, which forced many people of color to live in certain areas of the city. After the relaxation of some anti-ethnic legislation, especially in residential segregation, these ethnic towns changed. No longer are these ethnic groups forced to live in segregated areas due to legislation, but rather because of economic and cultural survival due
The film, Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski tells a story about corruption, incest, and privatization of water. The plot in this multi-layered, noir film draws upon the history of Los Angeles and the water wars of the early 20th century. The film was released in 1974 and the main characters were portrayed by Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston. Chinatown was Polanski’s return to Hollywood five years after the Manson family murder of his wife, Sharon Tate. I believe that this experience
San Francisco and Chinatown Gilded age San Francisco stood as a beacon for travelers bound for the western coast of the United States. The most prominent city in the developing west during the latter parts of the nineteenth century and the opening of the twentieth, San Francisco encompassed a range of conflicting identities. This time period marked a transitory stage in the development of San Francisco, evolving from a booming “frontier town” to a “civilized metropolis,” the emerging San Franciscan
'Chinatown' as Film Noir Films that are classified as being in the film noir genre all share some basic characteristics. There is generally a voice-over throughout the film in order to guide the audience's perceptions. These movies also involve a crime and a detective who is trying to figure out the truth in the situation. This detective usually encounters a femme fatale who seduces him. However, the most distinctive feature of the film noir genre is the abundance of darkness. Roman Polanski's
be analyzed will be Chinatown. This Roman Polanski mystery centers around Jake Gittes, who meets a woman pretending to be the wife of Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer of LA Water and Power Company. This imposter claims to suspect her husband of infidelity, and asks Gittes to take up the case. Gittes later finds the dead body of Hollis Mulwray and gets caught up in a world of crime and deceit that he never knew before. The idea of deceit is ever present throughout Chinatown, especially when dealing
Old Chinatown of Los Angeles Chinese first established their community in Los Angeles at today's El Pueblo Historical Monument. About two hundred settled by the year 1870. This number gradually increased over the years when the Southern Pacific began to construct a railroad from San Francisco in the 1870s. They were farm laborers, servants, road builders and small shopkeepers. Even with heavy discrimination during this time, Chinese held a dominant economic position in the Los Angeles laundry
Chinatown is the essence of a neo-noir film, it captures everything a noir film would encompass, just in a different era. By 1974, the year in which Roman Polanski’s Chinatown was released, the era of film noir had long passed. The film is sure to make the relation obvious to past films, including Evelyn Mulwray’s double - Ida Sessions to parallel Miss Wonderly in The Maltese Falcon (1941). In further contrast, Jake may be financially more stable than Sam Spade, but he is not quite so capable at
Trevor Brown Professor Gigante 3/29/17 COM 221 10 Shot Assignment - Chinatown The 1974 film Chinatown (U.S 1974, Roman Polanski) is about a private investigator, J.J Gittes, who was hired by a women impersonating Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray to investigate leads connected to her husband having an affair. J.J ends up meeting the real Mrs. Mulwray in the movie and learns about the sudden death of Mr. Mulwray. Once learning this, J.J quickly begins to realize that this case will be far different than his usual
The movie Chinatown is about the main character Jake Gittes, a private eye, and his search for what happened to Hollis Mulwray, which turns into the larger search and conspiracy of what has happened to all the water in Los Angeles County. Jake Gittes is the type of detective that takes a lot of pride in his work saying that he is “making an honest living,” relishing the fact that he seems to get a lot of press in his line of work. He also take a lot of pride in his appearance, constantly appearing