Chinatown Story Analysis

So far in the movie Chinatown, the story tells itself as there is no narrator. But the implied narrator or guiding hand is Mr. Gitties who is the protagonist of the film. His actions are drving the story as we follow his detective work. He is the detective that is trying to find out the corruption in the government in the water department. His drive to find this out keeps the audience interested and able to have the same drive as him. The spectators of the story serve just as pieces to the puzzle in this mystery that Mr. Gitties is trying to solve. The information that is provided to fill the narrative gaps is the fact that there is something fishy going on. This leads us to believe that there is some government corruption and that Mr. Gitties is the only one who can expose the corruption. In this narrative, time is presented chronologically so that the audience can see the case unfolding right in front of them. There is a little bit of realism in that the story is trying to so the darker side of human nature. There are some documentary techniques like hand held to demonstrate this realism. This is what makes this a neo-noir film. It is passed the film noir genre. It is in color and has some of the film noir characteristics in it which qualifies it as a neo-noir film. The movie definitely says something about the society during this time period. It shows the selfishness and corruption of people in which it is hard to find people who are actually good. It reflects no trust in the government too. Overall the narrative demonstrates a force of evil prevailing over everything else in society. Mr. Gitties is the one person who stands in the way of this force of evil and can defeat it by exposing the corruption of the government in the water scandal.