In Robert Towne's screenplay Chinatown, water is illustrated as a reoccurring premise. The representation of water throughout the work could be interpreted in multiple perspectives, and is shown to be the overarching aspect of the script. Water is needed for survival, and can therefore be a symbol for life and its importance in our existence. Just as water can signify life and existence, the lack of water can reveal the potential of death. This juxtaposition of life and death poses the questions of when water is an aspect of beauty, and when it is the downfall to death. In the work Chinatown, the association of water is ultimately signified to show a sense of power and strength. Unfortunately, when man attempts to use this power to control and regulate water, it always leads to deathly …show more content…
In the first few pages of the screenplay, Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer of the Los Angeles Water and Power Company, speaks in opposition of the construction of a dam and reservoir. Mulwray confronts the council committee and the mayor. He reminds them that “over five hundred lives were lost when the van der Lip Dam gave way” and that he will “not [be] making that kind of mistake twice” (8). Hollis Mulwray references a similar dam that previously could not withstand pressure that led to the death of hundred of civilians. Here it is shown that the dam, which is manufactured by humans, has lead to the death of many individuals. The depiction of the collapsed dam and Hollis Mulwary stem from Los Angeles’s water engineer William Mulholland (General Manager of Los Angeles’s Bureau of Water Works and Supply), who coordinated the purchase of water rights and the piping of water from the High Sierras into Los Angeles by an aqueduct. Mulwray’s concerns about building an additional dam exemplify the dangers of erecting another dam with no regards to the surface ground of the proposed