Imagine a proud horse, tied to a small plastic chair, unmoving because it believes escaping is hopeless. This is a psychological condition called learned helplessness, and in Robert Towne’s Chinatown (1974), we see the detective hero Jake Gittes’ descent into this condition. Gittes is defined by his chase after justice, willing to question and arrest enemies, lovers, and even his employers. Polanski and Towne use the dark world of Chinatown, a very loose “first person” view, and Joe Gittes as a relatable tragic hero in order to lead us to the same conclusion Gittes does: The world and future is out of your control, and by trying to you might make it worse. Better to do as little as possible. Towne immediately gives us a glimpse into Gittes’ character in the first two scenes: a kind, successful, and disillusioned detective. He is first consoling a client, and while he seems a little annoyed by his client’s reactions, he gives him a drink, and assures him to not worry too much about the bill, to pay when he can. Gittes is portrayed as well dressed and successful, but down to earth enough that he still appeals to the everyday man. We see his skills and dedication …show more content…
He starts out somewhat disillusioned with the people around him and the justice system, but still idealistic and committed to solving the case. The genre’s first person view, combined with Gittes’ personality, allows the audience to identify with Gittes and arrive at the same conclusion he has with the world of Chinatown. Gittes was haunted by his past, but his code and idealism forced him to try once more, causing the deaths of the Mulrays, and “kidnapping” of Katherine. Chinatown gives us a lovable, flawed, and haunted detective, watch him give it all, and the it forces us to watch as the world breaks him down, teaching us that at any moment, everything we work for and hold onto could be lost, regardless of how hard we
This insight highlights Mr. Chiu’s egotistical confidence of going free and his gull to demand a “letter of apology” from the chief of the bureau. Moreover, Chiu’s self-absorbed thoughts are exposed when he realizes that his “bookworm” wife sent an amateur lawyer to rescue him. Reluctantly, he signs the confession, and Mr. Chui’s suppressed anger is revealed when he thinks to himself, “If he were able to, he would have razed the entire police station and eliminated all their families.” After ironically rescuing his lawyer Fenjin from a wrongful imprisonment and public torture, the two men travel “from restaurant to restaurant near the police
The purpose of my essay is to explore how different social backgrounds and the social norms that follow affect the personality of two fictive characters and encourage them to break out of their station to find an identity. The protagonists Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye and Tambudzai in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s novel Nervous Conditions are both victims of social norms. Therefore, the foundation of this essay was to analyze the character’s social background, which has influenced their personalities, behavior and aspirations, and consequently their opposing actions against society. Holden Caulfield is an American adolescent during the period after the Second World War.
Racial tensions in Los Angeles came into the public eye when a gang of sailors beat up a group of Mexican-Americans wearing “zoot suits” in June of 1943. This led to the mass incarceration of these individuals known as “pachucos”. This initial incident was followed by days of violence in which servicemen roamed the Los Angeles area and physically assaulted any Mexican American they found in zoot suit apparel. The following two nights, the attacks progressed and though a few sailors were arrested while others were warned not to proceed in further assaults, word of the rioting spread and more military personnel from other areas of the city joined in as well. These events were preceded by increased racial tension between Mexican-Americans and Anglo Saxons.
This also relates to Bergmann’s quote in the beginning of this essay, as this ongoing drug trade changes how the young people in the society view the length of natural life and timely death. Gun violence directly cuts off the future life and aspirations for the criminal and the victim, as one’s life is cut short by death while the other’s is cut short by life in jail. This endemic gun violence and the early deaths and prison sentences create a scenario where as Bergmann describes “there are few living models of the drug-hustling adult to which young drug dealers turn in Detroit.” This is also present in Dude’s own life as his own brother’s life is cut short by his life long prison sentence as a direct cause of the drug trade. This instead causes him to take part in this same trade.
William Rabe… demanded that the Common Council immediately investigate the Chinese settlement in the city” when there were only 2,000 Chinese individuals living in this area, yet this was enough to catch the attention of doctors and council officials (Shah, 171). Shah proves the American fear of the Chinese people by explaining “the city council’s unusual requirement that they build outside city limits… and in the end refused any plans for a Chinese hospital” due to the descriptions of the filthy living conditions alongside the plethora of rumors within the city (Shah, 174). The author explains that Bates, a health officer in a high position of power, created “comparisons to farm animals, feeding a perception not only of Chinese immigrant’s inferiority but also of their inhumanity” and uses visual descriptors to create an overarching image of the Chinese rather than purely uses fact-based evidence (Shah, 175). In addition, the writer disproves Thomas Logan’s investigation by his incorrect view of “behavior and body as both the cultural and biological heritage of the Chinese ‘race’” and how his “vivid and visceral narration of the midnight journey through Chinatown became one of the stand forms of knowledge used in both medical and popular accounts to establish the truth of Chinatown as the preeminent site of vice, immorality, degradation, crime, and disease (Shah, 177). It is explained that Logan’s eyewitness and use of overexaggerated descriptors were widely accepted without any real statistical evidence or proof.
Similarly, David Hwang’s 10-minute play “Trying to Find Chinatown” centers on an encounter between Ronnie, a Chinese-American street musician, and Benjamin, a Caucasian tourist from Wisconsin who identifies himself as Asian-American, in the busy street of New York. In the play, “each character defines who he believes he is: Benjamin is convinced he is a Chinese American, and Ronnie sees
In the famous movie “Gangs of new York”, directed by Martin Scorsese, is a movie about multiple struggles and rivalries taking place in a New York city town, called the Five Points. This movie presents a story between a boy seeking revenge against the antagonist- Bill the butcher- and a portrayal of the various gangs living in the Five Points. Gangs of New York is historically accurate in the way it interprets the New York city riots, the characterization of the gangs in The Five Points, and the hardships of the Irish immigrants.
In T. Coraghessan Boyle’s short story “The Hit Man”, underlying psychoanalytical themes are present that display an allusion to struggles in human life. The main themes present in this story are dysfunctional behavior, displacement, and an insecure sense of self. Readers see the main character, The Hit Man, go through his entire life struggling with insecurity and other dysfunctional behavior. During this timeline, his dysfunctional behavior represents common struggles and conflicts that occur in common day-to-day life. Relationships with his parents and classmates and also academic struggles seems to be the main contribution to the way this character is represented.
“You give me a uniform, you give me a number on my back, I'll give you the guts.” Throughout the 2013 film “42”, Jackie Robinson indeed proves that he has the guts to counter racism in people from all walks of life. Character is the aspect of a person that decides what kind of person he is; it is who he is at his very core, and it affects his tolerance, courage, and sense of justice. Jackie’s dealing with the racism conveys true character, and it teaches the viewer how to behave when put to the test. Specifically, “42” exemplifies true character education in that it depicts Jackie Robinson persisting despite the racial prejudice of spectators, the media, and fellow athletes.
Gittes uncovers a plot that no one was supposed to know about, a plot that could land one of the most powerful forces in Los Angeles in prison. As the details he discovers get more and more convoluted, he realizes the case he has been hired for is not just about a cheating husband, but about corruption and fraud
Flagg’s character Evelyn Couch is seen as a believable character, because the reader gets a bit of background on who she is and why she goes to the nursing home. In the novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Evelyn is described as a “forty-eight year old . . . [who] had gotten lost somewhere along the way” (37). After her children left to college Evelyn felt as if she did not know what to do with her life anymore, because before it revolved around her family and taking care of each one of them. In the late 1980’s women began to have more job opportunities; however, in Evelyn’s case she was already too old to go out and work for a company without having went to college.
Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca (1942) is a film based in WWII around different nations involvement in the war. Casablanca is a stylistic piece of propaganda based in Casablanca, Morocco, a hotspot for Europeans escaping the war and Nazi government. Within the movie each character represents a nations stand in the war. Because of this each character is compromised in certain ways and has clear flaws. Ilsa Lund, the main female character in the film is renowned for being extremely manipulative and overly emotional because of the way women were seen in this era.
“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear”. Hope was highlighted a great amount in the film “The Shawshank redemption” directed by Frank Darabont. In this essay I will be analysing how the sense of hope portrayed in the film was developed to show a particular purpose, the importance of rehabilitation. Hope was shown all throughout the film and to support this I will use examples that show the gradual development of hope in the film.
Furthermore, Scorsese shows us how Henry Hill in Goodfellas lives the life of a gangster and finally gets away from it succesfully. Something that most of the audience would readily accept. Kolker says that: ―Henry speaks for the viewer. Like him, we love the gangster life. At least we love looking at representations of it.
It is tradition of the genre to have an uncommonly smart detective as protagonist, alongside a mediocre partner who often articulates the mystery. It is made apparent to the readers that the narrator possesses no significant intellect, as in the Murders in the Rue Morgue, when asked his opinion on the murders; he says “I could merely agree with all Paris in considering them an insoluble mystery. I saw no means by which it would be possible to trace the