Chinatown Movie Analysis

Words: 1338
Pages: 6
Open Document
In the film Chinatown there are many characters who have conflict on both the conscious and subconscious levels. Through new understanding of the Psychoanalytic lens I have discovered that Chinatown challenges Gitties and Evelyn’s conscience and morality, seen through the psychoanalytic lens. Freudian theory tells us that the human mind is structured into two parts, the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Freudian then separates the human personality into three parts: the id, ego, and superego. The component that is challenged in Chinatown is the ego, applying to Evelyn and the id applying to Gitties . The ego is the unconscious part of the personality dealing with drive to complete their tasks in their life they are faced with. The id …show more content…
Initially viewing the film, Evelyn makes decisions for herself and no one else, we as the audience thinking she is stuck up and only wants to help herself, not seeming to know anyone other than Gitties and her father. When observed through the psychoanalytic lens, a new understanding becomes known that Evelyn is able to handle her ego and her urges fairly well. Evelyn gives into her urges but so that her daughter is safe, rather than for her own benefit. This is shown when Evelyn sneaks away from her own home so she can go and take care of her daughter that she has hidden away from her father and his corruption. Evelyn could have easily given up her daughter to her father but she has love for her child, even if she is half of her father. Evelyn could have acted n her basic urge to lead Gitties away so that she could escape with her daughter, but she works to achieve a balance with her moral and idealistic standards of herself. The ego operates mainly in the unconscious, Evelyn not having to think about what she is doing, just acting on her good willed urges top protect herself and her daughter. Evelyn does pour herself out to Gitties at one point, unable to control herself and sexually gets to Gitties so that she can get more knowledge on the case, leading her closer to being able to figure out how to stay away from her father. Viewing …show more content…
These characters, with their many flaws appear to the audience, as obviously flawed human beings with plenty of troubles. If the characters in the film were simple, one layered characters with the obvious objectives and intentions, seen in every film or neo-noir this would create a very predictable and boring plot.
With the psychoanalytical theory, films such as Chinatown are meant to touch our unconscious and connect to our deepest fears and hopes. Chinatown is a fairly disturbing film, disturbing right from the start till the end. The film makes us curious and intrigued into what is happening. The first scene in the film showing us pornographic pictures of a couple, the last one with the woman being entered from her rear, a sexist way that Polanski (the director)has shown that in this world, everyone takes it in the ass, and that is a perfect summary of this film.
Through my initial viewing of Chinatown I missed plenty of important aspects however when applying the feminist and psychoanalytical theories to the film I was able to understand aspects of the film, the characters better and my complete understanding of the film was adapted for the
Show More

Related Documents: Chinatown Movie Analysis

Chinatown and Evelyn Mulwray Essay

Chinatown Film Analysis Chinatown directed by Roman Polanski created in 1974 explores the dark and twisted world of a P.I just trying to do his job. Polanski tries to show that things and people are not what they seem most of the time. He does this in a numerous amount of ways, including a very talented cast consisting of Jack Nicholson as JJ “Jake” Gittes, Faye Dunaway as Evelyn Cross Mulwray, John Huston as Noah Cross, and Diane Ladd as Ida Sessions. Chinatown is follows JJ as what he thinks…

Words 697 - Pages 3

A Crashing Connection Essay

where any meaningful connection occurs only if the characters in the film ‘crash’ into each other. There is a surge of immigrant population that struggles with racism, stereotypical behavior, and alienation in addition to the social inequality. The movie focuses on the lives of several characters in urban America. All of the characters exemplify vast differences in demography like age, gender, and class. These include characters of African American, Persian, Asian, Hispanic, Latino, and Caucasian descent…

Words 2357 - Pages 10

Department of English Spring 2014 Course Descriptions Essays

Department of English Spring 2014 Course Descriptions 89S. Imagining War. Instructor M. Maiwald. WF 8:30-9:45 In this course, we will consider how the experience of war has been represented in American fiction, non-fiction, and film. We will investigate how attitudes toward war have evolved throughout American history: our timeline begins with the Civil War—the traumatic event that birthed the modern American state—and ends with the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. In particular…

Words 9501 - Pages 39