"Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."In John Cawelti’s “Chinatown and generic transformation in recent American films” (Cawelti, 2003, p.243) he outlines his idea of revisionism. He states that genre has a “hard-boiled formula” (2003, p.246) that is repeated continuously resulting in it being exhausted overtime. Because of this it has now become an “American myth” as certain genres are that easily recognisable that it has become an iconic semiotic within society. He has described four modes in which elements of a genre have been altered in order to give them a new context. The first is “burlesque proper” (2003, p.251) in which a conventional formula or style is exaggerated which then results in laughter. This presents the “breaking of convention by intrusion of reality and the inversion of expected implications” (2003, p.252) meaning that it is juxtaposing the conventional genre. This change is therefore mediated in a way to make the audience laugh. He uses The Young Frankenstein (Brooks, 1974) as an example as it parodies the horror genre. Although a lot of the burlesque films result in comedy, some also result in tragedy which he refers to as the “doomed burlesque” (2003, p.250). An example of this is Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) as it is a new Hollywood version of the gangster genre but ends in the pair’s deaths. The second is the “cultivation of nostalgia” (2003, p.253). This is when films deploy certain aspects of past genre films such as characters, plot and style in order to “evoke nostalgia” (2003, p. 253). Nostalgia is evoked as it is “ironically commenting upon generic experience itself” (2003, p.254) rather just repeating the genre, presenting a “relationship between past and present” and the audience can distinguish the two themselves (2003, p.253). The next mode is “demythologization” (2003, p.254) which is when the text deliberately uses traditional genre conventions to make the audience see genre as the “embodiment of an inadequate and destructive myth” (2003, p.254). He uses Little Big Man (Penn, 1970) as an example as it uses the “myth” of the western genre and flips it as it is the Indians who are “humane and civilised” and the pioneers are the ones who are “violent [and] corrupt” (2003, p.256) which shows demythologization of the western genre as it is taking what we know and making it something new by modification. The fourth mode is the “affirmation of myth” (2003, p.258) which is when “a traditional genre and its myth are probed and shown to be unreal, but then the myth itself is at least partially affirmed as a reflection of authentic human aspirations and needs” (2003, p.258). This means that films use the traditional genre conventions but alter certain aspects to meet the needs of a modern audience. Cawelti states that the best films based on generic transformation use at least one of these modes and he approves of this as he dislikes the exhaustion of genre within popular modern culture. He uses Chinatown (Polanski, 1974) as a main example and I have chosen to focus on this too as it is a key text within the “myth” that is the film noir genre. Film Noir was the name given by French film critics in 1946 to an “unusually despairing group of Hollywood crime thrillers” that they missed during the war (Ewing. Jr, 2010, p.61). The period is said to have started with The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1941) and ended with Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958) (Schrader, 2003, p.230). These films portrayed a darker side of American society, focusing on the themes of hopelessness, “claustrophobia, paranoia, despair and nihilism” (Spicer, 2002, p.64) with a “cohesive visual style” (Ward and Silver, 2010). The style was heavily influenced by German Expressionism as it used chiaroscuro and sharp lines to present the darkness and corruption within society. Cawelti refers to film noir as the detective story and says that it is an “important American myth” as it can be “defined as a pattern of narrative known throughout the culture.” (2003, p.244). He describes many conventions of this myth including the 1930s California city setting, black and white cinematography, a detective protagonist “American hero type” (2003, p.245) and the “beautiful and dangerous woman” character or the femme fetale (p.246). He also says that the story’s equilibrium begins with the detective being given a deceptive mission, either the client is lying, or the client is being deceived by another such as in The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946). The detective is drawn to the femme fatale character and finds himself in a web of conspiracy as he discovers a corrupt society, not just a corrupt individual. He must then decide how he can bring justice to the situation. The criminal then confesses, and the detective departs from the femme fatale character and returns to his normality, ready to “perform more acts of justice when the occasion arises” (2003, p.246). Cawelti also says that the detective/ film noir genre is one that is exhausted as it is done continuously. He uses Chinatown (Polanski, 1974) as an example but says how it disregards some conventions and uses some revisionism modes to make the genre divergent. Chinatown (Polanski, 1974) is a revised genre of film noir and it follows private detective Jake Gittes who specializes in catching out spouses who have committed adultery. On his most recent case, he finds himself mixed up in the corruption of society. “When noir was revived in the 1970s, it kept true to many of the genre's traditions, but altered others, in what has been called neo-noir.” (Fuchsman, 2018, p.60). This is a film that embodies Cawelti’s four modes of revisionism perfectly. One of the modes it fits into is the “cultivation of nostalgia” (Cawelti, 2003, p.253). It fits into this as it is a detective story with the archetypal detective figure based on Humphrey Bogart’s film noir oeuvre. Jake Gittes is dressed in a suit and fedora hat which has become an iconic semiotic for the Bogart character which is presented in À Bout de Souffle (Godard, 1960) where Michel mimics his idol, Bogart, in a tweed jacket and fedora hat. This could also fit into the “burlesque” (2003, p.251) mode or the “doomed burlesque” (2003, p. 250) as like Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967), it is a new Hollywood version of a genre, in this case film noir, and it embodies the iconic look of that genre but ends in tragedy with Evelyn being shot. It also makes homage to classic film noir look as Jake comments on the venetian blinds saying- “you can’t eat the venetian blinds Curly. I just had them installed on Wednesday.” (Polanski, 1974). Venetian blinds are an iconic genre convention within noir. Although it is an in-joke on the noir genre, but it is also an example of “demythologization” (2003, p.254) as it shows how the genre can be deconstructed. Here they are acknowledging the genre or “myth” itself and one of its most iconic conventions. An example of when this is used is in Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944) as when Walter enters the Dietrichson house for the first time, he is surrounded by the shadows caused by the blinds, foreshadowing his entrapment by Phyllis. This can fit into the “burlesque” (Cawelti, 2003, p. 251) mode as it is making an in-joke on the film noir genre itself. Another way it fits into the “cultivation of nostalgia” is how the story begins with the black and white Paramount logo, referencing film noirs like Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944) which begin the same. It then moves to a shot of a monochrome photograph, then removes it from the frame revealing that this film is in colour which was not common of the film noirs of the 1940s and 50s. Cawelti says that the mise-en-scene of Chinatown has the “aura of the hard-boiled myth” (2003, p. 244) but the use of colour departs from this slightly. “Polanski carefully controls his spectrum of hue and tone in order to give it the film of film noir” (2003, p. 244). The use of colour isn’t recreation but is repositioning the audience. It can’t “duplicate” the past experience of this genre but shows the “relationship between past and present” (2003, p. 253). Although it cultivates nostalgia, it also makes it new for a modern audience therefore moulding the genre. The fact the choice of colour was made could also fit into the mode of “affirmation of myth” (2003, p.258) as the film is using traditional genre conventions such as the narrative and the characters but altering certain aspects (the colour) to meet the needs of a modern audience. It also fits into the “cultivation of nostalgia” through the narrative. As Cawelti says, the hard-boiled detective story usually starts with the detective “being given a mission by a client” who is usually deceptive (2003, p. 245). This can be seen in many noirs including The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946) and The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1941). Chinatown uses this same equilibrium to create nostalgia for the audience. This can be seen as the fake Evelyn Mulwray asks Jake to follow her “husband.” Jake realises he has been set up and investigates further into the real Evelyn Mulwray and the sabotaging the water supply plot. The detective then uncovers not just a corrupt individual but a corrupt society. Evelyn is the femme fetale here, again part of the “cultivation of nostalgia” as she seduces Jake and continuously lies to him about her daughter/ sister and her father. Even though she is the femme fetale in this story, it differs from the film noirs of the 40s and 50s as the audience sympathise with her as her relationship with her father was incestuous. She isn’t trying to manipulate Jake but is almost begging for his help with her and her daughter’s escape from the clutches of her father. This juxtaposes the femme fetale of the classic era as they were evil and deceitful. This can be seen in Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944) as Phyllis uses Walter to kill her husband and this ends in her being shot. Women were presented in this way at the time as they had taken up the jobs of men while they were fighting in the war and when the men returned, they wanted to repress the women back into their domesticity. The shooting of Phyllis here can represent that as she is being repressed while attempting to rise. Although Evelyn is shot at the end, we feel sympathy as she was just trying to help her daughter. Jake is then made to carry on and move onto the next case which is shown through the iconic line “forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown” and the wide shot of Jake walking away. This presents how this is just one aspect of a corrupt society and Jake has other future cases to solve. Film noir was a genre that “offer[d] a ‘dark mirror’ to American society” (Spicer, 2002, p.64) as America had just gone through the Depression and was currently still in WW2. Unlike during the Depression where escapist musicals such as Gold Diggers of 1933 (LeRoy, 1933) were made, film noir chose to show a darker side of humanity. Chinatown did a similar thing because of the time it was made. This was a dark time in America. The film was made in the Watergate era and reflects the “darkness and disillusionment of that period” (Fushsman, 2018, p. 59.) The 60s was the time of Martin Luther King, Jr’s death, student radicalism and Civil rights activism, Vietnam etc. “As the sixties turned into the seventies, for many liberals and radicals hope turned into disillusionment” (Fushsman, 2018, p.59). The film noir genre was revived at this point to mimic the darker side of American society to fit the needs of its audience showing that Chinatown is part of the “affirmation of myth” mode (Cawelti, 2003, p.258) as it is revising the film noir genre again to mirror the dark side of American society that was being experienced at the time. “Chinatown tells a story which was absolutely modern, […] even though it is set nearly forty years before” (Eaton, 1997, p.21) showing how a story set in the past, appeals to an audience of the time through uses and gratifications of personal identity because of the chaos and darkness of America. From this case study of Chinatown, it clearly fits perfectly into some of Cawelti’s four modes of revisionism as part of the detective/ film noir genre. It places its story “within a view of the world that is deeper and more catastrophic, more enigmatic in its evil.” (Cawelti, 2003, p. 249). Because of this, it is a revised genre that can be demythed as the conventions are obvious and have been revised for a modern audience. Bibliography-
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AuthorMegan Hilborne is a freelance film writer and graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2020 with a degree in film. ArchivesCategories |