"Chinatown"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Robert Towne's film, "Chinatown," portraying it as a powerful glimpse into the social production of the modern metropolitan city. The evils of the city are amplified the further in you go; or at least, that is the way it is portrayed. Water, the giver of life, is purposefully withheld from a dying community on the whim of a businessman. The paper explains that the area called Chinatown stands as an example of everything that is dreadful about the urban experience, but remains inescapable. Wealth and power held by a single type of human, the white male, alters the way in which identities are formed. Ultimately, the truth can be substantiated with evidence, but still ignored by the victims of disorder.

From the Paper:

"Chinatown is a vision of the historic degradation of Los Angeles and the American dream. Contrary to the simple, monocentric view of a city put forth by Robert Park, Towne's interpretation of Los Angeles is more strongly tied to the urban sprawl theories of Mike Davis. The primary aspect that defines one's existence in the city is emotion. This emotion is generated by perceptions of crime, racism, drugs, and sex. The way in which a city is seen by its inhabitants depends upon how these aspects of human existence are presented to them. Today, we get this through the media of television and newspapers; in Chinatown it is largely through the printed press. The key, obviously, to alter a community's perception of itself is to manipulate the information the citizens are exposed to. This fact is illustrated in Towne's film, and the fabrication of fear by Noah Cross and other businessmen drives the public's understanding of itself."

More papers on "Chinatown":

• Term Paper # 134440 : "Chinese Americans and San Francisco Chinatown"
• Article Review # 148250 : "The Chinatown Idea"
• Narrative Essay # 25808 : "Visiting Chinatown"
• Research Paper # 38961 : "Chinatown: City Formation"

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