“Chinatown”

“Chinatown” World View: Behind the Surface Beauty of 1930s LA
Lies a Bleak World of Greed, Corruption and Violence


Although today’s Los Angeles suffers from smog, crime and urban decay, for most of the 20th century, the city was renowned for its natural beauty, easy living and delightful climate. In decades past, Midwesterners and Easterners were drawn to the region like teens to iPods. Few of the Southwestward-bound were aware that the “lush” city is actually set in a semi-arid location that could never have supported its famous sprawl without huge quantities of water piped-in from other parts of the state. In Roman Polanski’s landmark 1974 film, “Chinatown,” the young LA’s thirst for more water—and the vast profits to be made from quenching that thirst—become a symbol for a city whose movie star aura hides a world where good succumbs to a flood of evil, greed, corruption, incest and murder.
Plot conveys anti-capitalist ideology
In the LA of “Chinatown,” the dominant ideology is a godless world where capitalism corrupts. Big Business and Big Government turn money into power and further corruption. The American Dream becomes the American Nightmare in which a wealthy self-made man can evolve into the most despicable type of villain, raping his own daughter and murdering his one-time best friend, and get away with it all.
The basic premise of the film is a sinister plot by businessmen and politicians to stage a drought and push through new water laws that will help them make huge profits on outlying land they’ve quietly acquired under assumed names. Within this framework, protagonist Jake Gittes, a private investigator and former cop, becomes an unsuspecting pawn of the powerbrokers in their effort to discredit honest water commissioner Hollis Mulwray. Mulwray’s subsequent murder draws Gittes further in, leading him to the grieving widow/murder suspect Evelyn Cross Mulwray and ultimately to her father—the evil Noah Cross, once partners with Hollis Mulwray. Irked at being used, Gittes pursues the truth at great personal risk in a quest to regain his self-respect and reputation, and to help Evelyn Mulwray.
In the world of “Chinatown,” the soulless quest for more money and power leads multi-millionaire Noah Cross to commit a series of crimes, including the murder of his best friend, to make even more money. Consider this exchange: Jake asks, “I just want to know what you’re worth. Over ten million?” Noah responds, “Oh my, yes.” Jake asks, “Why are you doing it. How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can’t already afford?” Says Noah: “The future, Mr. Gitts, the future.”
Title and references to LA’s Chinatown reiterate bleak world
Although it’s not mentioned in the film, during the 1930s, LA’s original Chinatown residents and businesses were forced out by a coalition of businessmen and politicians who wanted to use the area for a train terminal. Neither does the film note that the fictional water conspiracy it portrays incorporates some details of an actual 1905 scandal, in which politicians and businessmen profited vastly through land speculation after staging a drought. Nonetheless, the historical realities behind the film’s plot and setting enable the filmmakers to imbue the film with a dark realism and convey a bleak world convincingly, despite the outer “glory” that was Los Angeles—the City of Angels.
While most of the film is set in other parts of LA, Chinatown is referred to several times as the mysterious, inscrutable backdrop for many of the problems faced by the characters. The protagonist, Jake Gittes, says he once served as a cop in Chinatown, which was the type of place in which the D.A. would advise his men that to survive, they should back off and do “as little as possible.” When Gittes tries to protect Mrs. Mulwray, he hides her in Chinatown. And at the film’s bleak climax in Chinatown, where Gittes witnesses a scene in which his worst fears come true, a former colleague tells him to give it up and go home: “Forget it, Jake” he says. “It’s Chinatown.” Ultimately, Chinatown symbolizes a vortex of despair--sort of a modern day Tolkien Mount Doom, if you will-- sucking in those who do not understand it and who are blinded by the beauty of Los Angeles.
Using stereotypes to convey world view
Chinatown’s characters are stereotypical in many ways, bringing to mind the 1940s detective stories of Raymond Chandler and film noir sensibilities. Gittes is a private investigator and almost an anti-hero—tough, self-absorbed, independent, but likable and attractive. Evelyn Mulwray is a beautiful, vulnerable, mysterious “woman-with-a-past” who’s in trouble. Hollis Mulwray is a more traditional hero who believes the people should own the water, fights the Big Business and Big Government coalition, and rescues Evelyn.
In addition, there are the Mulwray’s inscrutable Chinese butler and hard-working Japanese gardener, and Mulwray’s ambitious, unscrupulous and cowardly underling, Russ Yelburton. The cops are hard and tough-talking. And of course there’s Noah Cross, who is the stereotypical “capitalistic pig”—and then some.
Expressing a deeply pessimistic view
With water a prominent theme throughout the movie, it’s hard to resist saying that the filmmaker’s glass is definitely half-empty at best. In fact, this film conveys the most disheartening messages possible. Evil triumphs over good repeatedly in the film—the water battle is lost, Evelyn never escapes her father, Mulwray dies and ultimately Evelyn dies, losing her daughter/sister to the evil Noah Cross. As this bitter end unfolds, Gittes loses his hopes for the future. The audience sees what he sees: Crime DOES pay. Evil DOES triumph over good. These characters never had a chance—there was virtually no escape for any of them from the evils set in motion by “capitalism gone wild” as represented by Cross.
Values implied
The movie suggests that human nature is basically weak. “Values” are shown by what happens when they are ignored or perverted. Had Noah Cross loved his daughter and been a good parent, he never could have ruined her life by his actions. Had Cross not loved money more than his friend, he could never have murdered Hollis Mulwray. Had the city fathers not wanted to line their own pockets, they could have served the city better. Had the Chinese and other minorities been treated more kindly, Chinatown would not have become a center of evil burning at the heart of Los Angeles. This view of human nature is reiterated by one of the film’s most famous quotes, a “philosophical” observation from Noah Cross: “See, Mr. Gitts, most people never have to face the fact that, at the right time and the right place, they’re capable of....anything!”
In summary, the filmmakers effectively use plot, stereotypical characterizations, historical context, embedded values and a clear demonstration of success based on corruption, to convey the film’s deeply disturbing world view.