Return to Intro to Film syllabus
Udpated 24 September 2006
ENGLISH 114: INTRODUCTION TO FILM, Fall 2006
Section 3: Thursday, 6:00-9:30 p.m., Professor Larsson
Week 4, September 21
6:00-6:15
Film Minor Interest Survey
Questions and follow-up on last week
6:15-8:25
View Chinatown
8:25-8:35
Break
8:35-9:20
Discussion of Chinatown
9:20-9:30
Quiz 2
Reminder: Test 1 will be given at the beginning of class next week. It will consist of 20 questions based on Chapters 1 and 2 in Looking at Movies and the films we have seen, including
§ Short films by Edison and the Lumieres and Ballet mechanique
§ The Bicycle Thief
§ Begone, Dull Care and Neighbors
§ An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
§ Chinatown
Bring a Scantron answer sheet and a # 2 pencil
FORM AND NARRATIVE IN CHINATOWN
Questions:
1. What expectations are created by the beginning credits and opening scene of the film?
2. What kind of detective is Jake Gittes? How does he get involved in the life of Evelyn Mulwray? Why does he continue to be involved?
3. How much does Jake learn through his detectives skills or experience? How much comes to him by luck or chance?
4. What is the story behind the plot? How do we learn those details? Does the film manipulate the story order, duration or frequency of events through the plot?
5. What does the title mean?
6. What are some significant motifs that are repeated through the film? Why are they used?
7. What does the film have to say about the ability of human beings to control their own destiny?
Expectations:
§ This is a film set in the past (Paramount logo, music, color tone)
§ The film itself will reflect the style and narrative of past films, especially detective films in the film noir tradition
o Restricted point of view
o A less than completely heroic protagonist
o A leading woman character who may be deceitful and dangerous
o Explores the darker side of human behavior and emotions
§ The name “Chinatown” will be explained in some way by the film
Some unusual ways in which Chinatown plays with expectations
§ The narrative suggests how the present was born (modern-day Los Angeles) through political and moral corruption
§ Evelyn is heroine and victim, not seducing “spider woman” of film noir
§ There is no attempt at a happy ending; the film end’s with Noah Cross’s victory, Evelyn’s death, Jake’s defeat
Narrative uses chronological order, does not play with frequency; plot duration (about two weeks) is shortened considerably from story duration (at least 15 years); screen duration omits considerable portions of plot duration
Key Plot Events (cover about 2 weeks):
1. Jake is hired by fake Mrs. Mulwray
2. Jake spies on Mulwray and young woman
3. Jake’s information is published in newspapers
4. Jake is visited by the real Evelyn, tries to investigate reason he was used
5. Jake discovers water being diverted from reservoir
6. Noah Cross asks Jake to find the young woman
7. Jake discovers fraudulent land purchases, starts affair with Evelyn
8. Jake follows Evelyn to house, discovers young woman
9. Jake discovers glasses in pond at Mulwray house
10. Jake confronts Evelyn, discovers the truth about Katherine
11. Jake arranges to get Evelyn and Katherine to Mexico
12. Jake confronts Noah Cross, is forced to take him to Evelyn and Katherine
13. Police arrest Jake, Evelyn confronts Noah and tries to escape, is shot, and Noah takes Katherine: “It’s Chinatown.”
Inferred Story Events:
Fifteen (?) years earlier: Noah Cross rapes his daughter, Evelyn. She gives birth to her daughter/sister, Katherine.
Hollis Mulwray marries Evelyn to protect her from her father.
Several (?) years earlier: Jake Gittes is a policeman, working Chinatown with partner Escobar. Jake causes a woman’s death by trying
to protect her.
Several months (?) earlier: Noah Cross begins forcing farmers in the San Fernando Valley to sell their property by diverting water, with the
help of Mulwray’s deputy. Mulwray begins to discover the scheme.
Several days (?) earlier: Cross hires Ida Sessions to pose as Evelyn Mulwray to help find out where Katherine is being hidden.
[FILM PLOT BEGINS]: (By the film’s end, we can infer a number of connections and events that Jake is unaware of at the time.
For example, we can assume that Cross arranged to have Ida
Sessions murdered and to notify the police before
Jake finds her.)
“Chinatown” refers to the personal moral space where the line between right and wrong is uncertain and attempts to do good can have horrible results.
Contexts for Chinatown:
§ Released in 1974, a time of remarkable creative energy in American films
§ Collapse of old studio system allowed new leeway for creative producers
§ Directors now often accepted as “auteurs” (authors)
§ Willlingness to experiment with narrative and style, often inspired by European directors
Also time of political uncertainty and social unease:
§ Vietnam war ending
§ Decade of political change and unrest leaves scars of riots, extremism, assassinations
§ Watergate scandal confirms worst suspicions of some about corruption in high places
“Neo-noir”
§ Films inspired in style and narrative by American films noirs of 1940s and 1950s
§ Downbeat or open endings, sometimes lack of clear cause-effect relationships reflect influence of European films
§ Many such films reflect social “paranoia” about power and corruption
Examples:
Three Days of the Condor
Klute
The Conversation
The Parallax View
All the President’s Men