Chinatown the American Dream Essentially Term Paper

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If the American dream is real to someone, it is real; land and products can be bought and sold as a consequence.

Obviously, for the dream of a better life to be sold to anyone it needs to be established that their current existence is less than attractive. This is why water is diverted away from a city in desperate need of water: the citizens need to be convinced that what they need is somewhere else. Furthermore, all of the town's undesirables are lumped into the center of the city, where they are most visible and most difficult to avoid. Poor minorities, essentially, are caught within the low income housing projects in the inner city. This is why Chinatown is unattractive to white, affluent citizens. Racism is as much of an impetus to leave the city as the stifling drought. The organizational structures in place demand that the Chinese live in a specified section of Los Angeles, and consequently, whites perceive it as a negative place, filled with Chinamen who do not work hard enough: they "do it like a Chinaman." ("Chinatown" 1974). Since this particular race is quartered off by the rest of the community, they are seen as deviants from the American dream -- they do not want to leave.

The women in "Chinatown" are mere playthings for the white men wielding the power.

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Mrs. Mulwray is Mr. Cross' daughter, but when he wants her sexually, he takes her. The reason Mrs. Mulwray and her daughter are unable to escape Chinatown in the end is because they are pawns to the will of men who mold cities. Prior to her death Mr. Cross states that he already lost one daughter and he intends to keep his second. Ultimately, this is precisely what he accomplishes. Evelyn dies, but Mr. Cross is there to scoop-up and console his remaining daughter. The fear he generated drove them away, but he has placed boundaries upon how far they can run.

Chinatown" is a portrait of Los Angeles as the construction of men who wanted only the gratification associated with manipulating human beings on a grand scale. Towne represents the American dream as a consequence of this construction, and a means by which it is perpetuated. Central to the film is the idea of confusion and distortion of the truth, to form an impression of reality that becomes real in its outcomes. Fear of the poor and fear of the city replaces the fear of the ruling class substantiated by evidence through subsequent misrepresentation of facts. "Chinatown" is a unique and eye-opening look into the corporate formation of the American dream.

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