On a second watching of Chinatown
One of the part-time faculty in my department teaches a screenwriting course. As I was supposed to observe him teach (he is very experienced, so it was just a pro forma exercise for the accrediting body), I visited his class when he was screening Chinatown because the textbook he uses touts it as an epitome of screenwriting.
Yeah.
Of course, it is brilliant in many ways. So many iconic scenes and moments and lines, and exquisitely photographed. Still.
1. I can't divorce the movie from its director, Polanski. This was just a handful of years after his wife's and child's murder. He is the actor in the movie who slices Gittis' nose (yikes). He has directed some pretty dark stuff and, well, he's a pedophile kicked out of this country. The work of the artist reflects the world view of the artist.
2. It is an entirely misogynistic film. No woman is good or sympathetic in any way. Even the victimized women are complicit in their victimization (except maybe Katherine, who is still young but a cipher in this film) b). Faye Dunaway's character doesn't even get to say she was raped; in her mind, at least, the sex with her father was consensual. Curly's wife has a black eye, but she deserved it in the film's view. The pseudo Mrs. Mulwray is a hooker/actress.
3. What is it about? Nihilism. "It's Chinatown." Gittis, not a great guy but in this case trying to stumble through fixing a civic problem he has stumbled upon, because stumbling is what he does, has put his life in danger, and why? His lover is dead, Katherine is "kidnapped" by her grandfather/father, the city is still wasting water, and Noah Cross is free. (Plus, that's a pretty racist ending line; Chinese immigrants are hardly worthy of being equated with nihilism and corruption.)
Yeah.
Of course, it is brilliant in many ways. So many iconic scenes and moments and lines, and exquisitely photographed. Still.
1. I can't divorce the movie from its director, Polanski. This was just a handful of years after his wife's and child's murder. He is the actor in the movie who slices Gittis' nose (yikes). He has directed some pretty dark stuff and, well, he's a pedophile kicked out of this country. The work of the artist reflects the world view of the artist.
2. It is an entirely misogynistic film. No woman is good or sympathetic in any way. Even the victimized women are complicit in their victimization (except maybe Katherine, who is still young but a cipher in this film) b). Faye Dunaway's character doesn't even get to say she was raped; in her mind, at least, the sex with her father was consensual. Curly's wife has a black eye, but she deserved it in the film's view. The pseudo Mrs. Mulwray is a hooker/actress.
3. What is it about? Nihilism. "It's Chinatown." Gittis, not a great guy but in this case trying to stumble through fixing a civic problem he has stumbled upon, because stumbling is what he does, has put his life in danger, and why? His lover is dead, Katherine is "kidnapped" by her grandfather/father, the city is still wasting water, and Noah Cross is free. (Plus, that's a pretty racist ending line; Chinese immigrants are hardly worthy of being equated with nihilism and corruption.)
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