“It’s My Metier”: The Failed Hero in Chinatown

Authors

Ann C. Hall, University of LouisvilleFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974) presents one of film’s most memorable failed heroes, Jake Giddes. Because of its grim ending, critics tend to conclude that it is an existential noir or a reflection on Polanski’s life and times, his escape from the Holocaust as a child, the death of his wife Sharon Tate, or political events such as Watergate and Vietnam. By examining the film as through the genre of tragedy, Giddes becomes a tragic, not failed, hero, a character who can show us how to suffer nobly.

DOI

10.26736/hs.2020.02.04

Recommended Citation

Hall, Ann C. (2020) "“It’s My Metier”: The Failed Hero in Chinatown," Heroism Science: Vol. 5: Iss. 2, Article 4.
DOI: 10.26736/hs.2020.02.04
Available at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/heroism-science/vol5/iss2/4