Chinatown Narrative

I studied the narrative of the thriller Chinatown to help me get a feel of the narrative structure of this particular type of thriller (crime).

Chinatown is a thriller genre film; I have studied te film Chinatown and it's narrative to get an idea of the narrative structure of thrillers.

A narrative is similar to the plot of a story. The plot of the story is the actual story, whereas the narrative is the story and how it is told; the narrative is the plot but in more detail. The narrative of most thriller films is quite similar. Some if not all thriller films have plot twists in them. Plot twists are when there is a sudden change in the plot of the story; when the story changes and goes in a different direction is called a plot twist. A spiral can be used to explain plot twists; spirals twist and turn back on themselves. Spirals are common signifiers of thriller films.

Plot twists are most definitely present in the film Chinatown. Events happen which twist the plot of the story around. For instance, at the beginning of the film Mr Gittes is hired to spy on Mrs Mulwrey’s husband by a woman who he believed to be Mrs Mulwrey, then later on he finds out that someone was trying to give Mr Mulwrey a bad reputation as it was in fact an actress hired to play Mrs Mulwrey, to exploit Mr Mulwrey’s affair. This is a good example of how the story being told through Mr Gittes’ perspective helps add drama to the film. The audience found out about the hired actress at the same time Mr Gittes did; instead of knowing before Mr Gittes, the audience is just as shocked as him as they find out simultaneously.

The narrative of Chinatown is in Mr Gittes’ perspective. He is a private detective who is unravelling certain clues and mysteries in the film, so the story being told from his perspective helps the audience see how the story unravels for him. This helps add excitement, drama and tension to the film as it makes the audience feel as if they are Mr Gittes; when he finds out any interesting or shocking discoveries, the audience does so at the same time through his perspective. Mr Gittes is a ‘flawed hero’ in the story; in many thriller films there is a hero that has a certain flaw that affects his ability to achieve justice, this is another common thriller signifier. In Mr Gittes’ case, he drinks and smokes too much. An example of this in the film Chinatown is when Mr Gittes is nearly caught spying on a suspect as he is smoking whilst trying to watch him. The narrative being through his perspective helps show how close he was to being seen, which helps add tension to the film and keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

Another thriller signifier which is used in the film is cliff hangers. These are present in other film genres, but they are commonly used in thrillers to build up tension and keep the audience thinking. At the end of the film there is a major cliff hanger. Noah Cross and his daughter Mrs Mulwrey have a daughter together, yet this girl has no idea Noah Cross is also her father as well as grand father, then when Mrs Mulwrey dies at the end of the film Noah Cross takes the girl away. This is a cliff hanger as it leaves the audience wondering what happens to the girl; the girl could find out her grandfather is actually also her father, and if she did find out, it could have a dramatically devastating affect on her.

The narrative of Chinatown is mysterious and has a lot of secrets that are found out throughout the film. There is also builds up of tension throughout the film which help give the thriller ‘feel’ to the story.

Without the narrative of the film being what it is, the film could not be a thriller; without plot twists, Mr Gittes’ perspective being shown, the use of cliff hangers and other thriller signifiers, the film would have struggled to have been the thriller it turned out to be. The narrative in Chinatown uses different methods to make the atmosphere of the film a thriller and is therefore very important as it makes the film what it is.