Robert Towne's Chinatown is a vision of what the "American Dream" actually is, as opposed to what it should be. In the minds of most Americans, the American Dream is most commonly perceived as the attainment of financial security through success in t Continue Reading...
But apparently, he reached it many years before the film depicts him -- at least by Gittes summation. At a pivotal moment in the film, Gittes asks Cross why he did it and says, "How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can't already af Continue Reading...
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 att Continue Reading...
Film Noir / Cinema Architecture
Perhaps one of the most fruitful ways in which to trace the evolution of Film Noir as a genre is to examine, from the genre's heyday to the present moment, the metamorphoses of one of film noir's most reliable tropes: Continue Reading...