Chinatown Analysis

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Fall 2012 English 219: Film as Text Screen Response Log Chinatown Instructor: Doyle Rexford Avant Raef Zebian ID#: 201200566 In this neo-noir movie, the protagonist acts out his past while living his present. He “can’t always tell what’s going on,” thus he should have done “as little as possible” to avoid a tragic ending he has previously experienced. “It’s Chinatown” all over again! Firstly, the narrative form in Chinatown contains some interesting aspects to analyze. Starting with temporal frequency, eventhough no scene or time has been repeated, many actions and events forebode other potent ones. The fake Mrs Mullwray/Ida Sessions is seen wearing a weird hat that resembles what a widow would wear at her husband’s funeral; soon after, Evelyn Mullwray’s husband is murdered and she wears a similar hat. At the Mullwrays’ house, the gardener says “bad for glass”. Since he’s a foreigner (Chinese most probably), he could easily be thought of as having pronunciation problems and have meant grass, which is true as a later scene shows; nevertheless, the mentioning of glass anticipates the discovery of Noah Cross’ glasses in the pond. To this can be added two key forebodings. One happens in the rest house scene: after the physical fight, Jake jumps on Evelyn’s car that is being shot from the back as it rolls away; this happens again in the final scene of the movie, but with fatal consequences. The other is also related to the final scene in the movie: after Jake has followed Evelyn to her other house where she keeps Katherine hidden, he surprises her in her car and during the dialogue, Evelyn leans on the steering wheel activating the car horn. This is the sound that denounces her death in the end of the movie; a motionless Evelyn is leaning on the steering wheel again and a prolonged car horn sound is heard. These forebodings are like hidden
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