As I read John G. Cawelti's article "Chinatown and Generic Transformation in Recent American Film", I began to question Chinatown's role in the genre of Film Noir. Cawelti portrays Chinatown as more of a satire on the film noir genre. When I say satire, I am not referring to the humorous satire. Rather, Roman Polanski's film is showing the flaws in the film noir genre by having an imperfect protagonist, a weak femme fatale, and an incredibly dark ending.
However, in my opinion Chinatown was just as much (if not more) a tribute to the film noir genre as it was a satire of it. The important thing to note about Chinatown was when it was made, 1974, compared to film noir which was made in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The difference between the two eras was The Hays Code, which dictated strict rules on movies. In 1967, the code was replaced by the rating system, allowing far more taboo subjects to be shown on screen. This change coincided (or potentially caused) the rise of New Hollywood directors, including Roman Polanski.
The possible reason that Chinatown was so dark was because it could be. In 1945 there would have been no way that Chinatown could have been released. Here are just a few examples. The fact that incest was a major plot point would have disqualified the film. Faye Dunaway’s death was shown with violent realism and thus would be cut out. Even the passionate kiss between Dunaway and Nicholson might have been too much for the censors. Yet all of these factors added so much more to the film that in my opinion it would be criminal to censor these factors.
This is why I feel Roman Polanski made Chinatown as an ode to the older film noirs. Ironically, John Huston plays a character that is so evil that he could have never have appeared in Huston’s own film noirs. Polanski tired to make the film noir that many directors might have wanted to make but were not allowed to make. It is the ultimate form of noir, one without restrictions. It shows how dark the genre could get. Thus rather than satirizing the noir film of old for their somewhat idealistic plotlines, Chinatown is the culmination of all of these older film noirs. It is the darkest of the dark. This film is the noirest of the noirs.
5 comments:
Great post Steven! I think you nailed Chinatown's role in the film noir genre right on the head. In a movie like Out of the Past, which is now known as "classic noir", the two main characters left at the end, Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) and Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer)had to die because under the Hays Code, all murders had to be brought to justice. There deaths may have, in this case, made the movie's ending as dark as it could be, but the reality was that director Jacques Tourneur did not have the same freedom Roman Polanski did.
Chinatown did have many of the classic film noir characteristics that Paul Schader outlines in his essay, Notes on film noir. Film noir rose to prominence in post-World War II America in the 1940s and 1950s, but the 1970s were a time of parallel emotions. Schader notes that "The forties may be to the seventies what the thirties were to the sixties." In both the 1940s and 1970s, America was ready to take a more pessimistic view on life due to cultural circumstances. Thus Chinatown, with its imitation of earlier film noir, came at a perfect time. It was shot in black and white, made clever use of lighting and capitalized on the resurgence of a "mood of cynicism, pessimism, and darkness." Just like the classic film noir 30 years prior, Chinatown was just what the doctor ordered.
I really liked what you stated in your post about the Hays Code, but I still wonder if films as dark as Chinatown would have been produced or as popular in the 1940s and '50s.
I'm thinking of society in 1930 (i.e. when the code was adopted) versus 1968 when it was dropped. With 1930 representing a conservative society and the '60s and '70s representing a more progressive one, there must have been a gradual change in attitudes between these two points. Film noir fell in the middle. It makes sense then that film noir could be cynical but still possess some constraint. If the Hays Code didn't censor these films, perhaps members of society in their viewing preferences would have.
I completely agree with you, Steven. Like I said in my last blog post, I definitely think Chinatown was an homage to film noir, contrary to what Cawelti might have thought.
I'm glad you spoke about the Hays Code. It's been mentioned in class, but we've never really gone over it and I think you provided a little insight into it. By explaining to us that film noir was restricted by the Hays Code, I think we get a better understanding of the time period and the movies being produced.
Also, isn't it ironic that Chinatown is making a dark style particularly named for its darkness (noir) even darker? I love it. The movie was brilliant! Glad you enjoyed it, too.
I think Alex brings up a good point, but I tend to agree with Steven about the role of Chinatown being a tribute to film noir, and what it "could be."
I think the reason Polanski and directors like him might've chosen to focus on darker, grittier and less "rosy" subjects and content was because, during the Golden Age of film noir, they would not have been allowed to. "Chinatown" was a tribute to film noir by showing what it could've been, if myopic (but well-intentioned) laws and regulations like the Hayes code had not tied their hands and constrained their creative processes with ultimately arbitrary and unilaterally limiting rules. "Chinatown," I think, is an evolution of the film noir, taking its ethos to the next logical progression and giving a brief, thematic nod to the past cinematic greats. It is, in effect, the cinematic equivalent of an open letter, stating "This, dear viewer, is what film noir COULD HAVE been, and should have been."
I completely agree with your point that Chinatown was able to be darker than other films of the same nature because of the time it was made in. If it was actually made during the time when film noir was invented, Chinatown would have been a completely different movie.
I feel like this is going to be the natural progression of films. A good example of this is slasher films. In the 1930's, slasher films such as the Saw series would have not have been made, However, with the way society is becoming desensitized to many things, films like that are able to be made without causing a huge commotion in society.
This trend could turn out to be good because people could start talking about good points and ideas in movies. This will allow for our society to progress through films, something that should happen because of how easy it is to access films these days.
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