Chinatown

John Winkler

11/30/11

Title: Chinatown

Language/Country: English/United States

Runtime: 131min

Release Date: 1974

Awards Won: Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay, Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay

Chinatown

         “Chinatown” is an American film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Jack Nicholson. It was released in the United States in 1974. This Film has been nominated and won many award, and has been recognized as one of the greatest films ever made.  It’s reached such acclaim mainly due to its fantastic screenplay written by Robert Towne. The screenplay uses the “Historical Fiction” genre to perfection.

         The Genre of historical fiction uses a fictional story drawn from factual events in history. This film is set in 1937 Los Angeles, featuring Jack Nicholson as the main character, a detective named J.J. “Jake” Gites. The film centers on a historical water scandal that took place in 1920’s, California. Gites investigates a murder which winds up being directly related to the water scandal. “Writers of stories in this genre, while penning fiction, attempt to capture the manners and social conditions of the persons or time(s) presented in the story, with due attention paid to period detail and fidelity.”(Wikipedia, Historical Fiction) Robert Towne understood this concept and intern decided to make his script about something that he felt really passionate about. “With Chinatown, I originally thought I'd do a detective movie. That was all, initially. But then, I didn't want to do just any detective movie.” “I don't want to do a crime movie about the kind of things that don't anger me. I wanted to do something that really infuriated me. The destruction of the land and that community was something that I thought was really hideous. It was doubly significant because it was the way Los Angeles was formed, really.” Robert Towne (Fathom)

         In this film, as in most of this genre, use characters and events that were present in this time period and implement them in the story. In this case, Towne made characters that symbolized historical figures, by giving them names that were anagrams for the real people. For example, the characters Hollis Mulwray and Noah Cross are both references to the chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, William Mulholland. Hollis Mulwray’s name is a direct anagram for William Mullholand, and the name Noah is a reference to a flood, “to suggest the conflict between good and evil in Mulholland.” (Wikipedia, Chinatown)

         Although this film was not factual, it’s use of a real historical event gave it a great effect which left a huge impact on audiences. “For LA and national audiences who knew little of the history or background, Chinatown became the LA water story.” (Shiel, Fitzmaurice, pg 49) Historical fiction films make the audience intrigued and aware of a historical event that they may have previously no interest in. Chinatown helped people in the 70’s desire further insight into the “LA water story.” The film became urban history in the effective realm of pop culture. Though it’s story was largely false.” (Sheil, Fitzmaurice, pg 49)

         Overall, “Chinatown” is highly acclaimed as one of the greatest films of all time, and its historical fiction genre is what made it so powerful. I think this is a great film for so many different reasons, but it’s play on a historical event is what I found so interesting. “Chinatown and its role in historical development of LA offers a more positive account of the impact of one film’s reputation of the city.” (Shiel, Fitzmaurice, pg 21) This film made a whole generation in a city interested and aware of it’s own history, and that’s pretty remarkable.

        

                                                        Sources

"Chinatown (1974 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown_(1974_film)#Characters_and_casting>.

"Historical fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_fiction>.

"On Refining Story: A Conversation with Robert Towne." Fathom :: The Source for Online Learning. Fathom Knowledge Network , n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.fathom.com/feature/122390/

Shiel, Mark, and Tony Fitzmaurice. Cinema and the city: film and urban societies in a global context. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001. Print.