Pay close attention and watch; you may notice something you did not.  In today’s modern age with rapid improvements in technology and the growth of technology being used specifically for areas of surveillance, it is easy to get caught doing the wrong thing.  With an array of devices and unknown tactics at the surveillors’ disposal, it is difficult not to get caught if you are the one being surveilled and are unsure what you’re up against.  Even before the rise of technology, surveillance could easily be achieved in catching someone doing the wrong thing just by the process of physically watching.  This process, while less advanced than technology driven surveillance, in some ways requires a higher skill set as the surveillor will actually be in range of the target while staying out of sight.  In recent texts viewed and read for class, surveillance has played very heavily into the stories.  Whether surveillance is being used for the characters or against them, a clear use of surveillance is present in the material.  In some cases the survaillor can actually become the survelled if the person whom they are investigating gets wise and realizes this person is sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong.  At a certain point, a person who is under a large amount of survellance will begin to get curious of their surveillors.  When this occurs, the line of the person being surveilled breaks and in response they begin to watch.  In texts such as the novel 1984 and the film, Brazil, high levels of technology are being used to surveil characters in futuristic settings.  In the film Chinatown on the other hand, the story is set in a time where advanced technology is not present.  Despite the lack of technology, a certain level of surveillance is still achieved in the process to untangle a mystery.  Through these various examples of film noir, an overshadowing mystery is always established in the plot.  As the characters within the story strive to discover the true means of the mystery a constant use/themes of surveillance are always present.  To solve a mystery one must watch.

Androids; they act, look, and seem real.  They are “living” but not alive.  Over the course of the film Blade Runner, a recurring theme exploring the idea of being alive and human can be observed.  Blade Runner is set in a time where technology has gotten to the point where realistic versions of machines aka replicants/androids are being produced to the point where it is impossible to visual distinguish them from real humans.  In the film, the main protagonist of Rick Deckard, as portrayed by Harrison Ford, holds a job title of blade runner/bounty hunter.  It was Deckard’s job to hunt down and “retire” fugitive replicates on Earth.  The character of Deckard and the job he holds is a great counter weight for the observation of the theme/ideas being presented.  This is a man who is hardened and knows he must get the job done.  At the start of the film, Deckard shows zero remorse for the replicants.  He has been doing this job for a long time and is set in his ways.  To explore the theme, a character like this is necessary because you need to see it presented through the view of someone so sure of the thoughts they hold.

                As Deckard is coming out of retirement and back to investigating one final mystery he encounters events, people, or not people that slowly change him.  One of the first moments that shows the start of Deckard’s metamorphose is when he meets Rachel for the first time.  Rachel is a replicant but does not know.  Deckard clues her in on the truth of her “existence” without hesitation.  Following the new found information that Rachel has just received, she becomes sad.  Rachel is putting across a genuine emotion but if she’s not human/alive then how is this considered a real emotion?  Deckard sees this emotion being put out and tries to comfort her.  He tells her he was just joking.  This is interesting because he knows she is not real but still feels bad.  Rachel’s non-real emotion triggers a real emotion for Deckard.  This is a human interaction but only for one of them.  (Note: This is talking prior to the ending revelation.) 

                Deckard now being back in the game and exposed to his old life style realizes he does not like what he does.  This can clearly be seen right after Deckard guns down the replicant prostitute.  Deckard knows he has four replicants to hunt down and after gunning one down as she was running for her “life”, he knows there are only three left.  After her “retirement” at the scene, an officer approaches Deckard and says he still has four more to find.  Deckard goes to great length to inform the officer that there are only three left.  Deckard is in shock after such an act and wants it to be over with.  The officer informs him that Rachel has gone missing.  This throws him through a loop of emotions because he feels as if it is his fault as he revealed to Rachel her true “existence”.

if one looks historically at New york and California the title Chinatown goes perfectly with the movie.Chinatown has always been a shady place, be it opium in the 60’s, crack in the late 80’s, to the underground poker games or the bootleg purses that are being sold in rooms behind the visible walls for a fourth of market price. The movie in a way was like that as well. A small investigation job turns into a giant game of battleship. never knowing where your enemy may be, searching but rarely landing a hit.

The movie came out when society was changing. it was a clash of old school vs new school, with a side serving of filth. i feel as if this movie captured a time in history. The way it portrayed the corruption and crime that was going on. The manipulation of money, and even the sexual relationships that were going on. That era was when the term “uncle daddy brother” could have applied, as portrayed by one of the films many antagonist.

just makes you think, what kind of movies are going to come out that portray our current point in history?

When it comes to blade runner, so many thoughts pop into my head. For each thought though there are twice as many questions.

Was Fords character a robot? Was the origami man there to retire the woman, or him? how did he know about the unicorn? Why did the final robot of Nexus Six allow the protagonist to live?

This movie sort of touched on the subject of “who watches the watchers?” A test was administered by blade runners to suspected robots but never took it themselves. it makes one wonder if all blade runners were just a different model of synthetic people (similar to that of Nexus Six,) The theory arises from a specific scene where Fords character shows a tell tale sign of a synthetic person, the specific hue in the eyes. was it done on purpose? if so why did they not expand on it?

this film touched many of the conventional film noir features. such as the gritty urbanized city. the amount of people, the clutter, the lack of room. someone  always watching you, similar to Orwells 1984. The evolution of the characters i felt was expressed in a great way, from the last androids cannibalistic rage. The howling showed how hurt he was, how he feared his impending doom, and moments before helping end a life he accepts his fate. the androids last deed was giving a man an opportunity he was never given. Freedom.

Initially, i was skeptical about this movie. Mainly because i am Chinese and the title didn’t appease to me. I was definitely wrong. Believe the hype. This movie was really really good and i very much enjoyed. This was the first film I was able to recognize an actor, Jack Nicholson. Which made the film all the more enjoyable. The role of JJ by Nicholson was very polished and he complimented the Noir genre very well. This film kept me in my seat, asking more and more questions which were finally answered in the end. I can definitely see why this was said to be one of the greatest films ever made.

Pertaining to Noir, I felt they would make the creator of Noir films in the 40’s and 50’s proud. Noir was fading genre since those times. Chinatown was able to bring back the grittiness and darkness that hasn’t been seen in 30+ years.

Blade runner was quite the mind bender. Harrison Ford did a very good job with the role of Deckerd. Honestly not sure what i can make of this movie. I did enjoy it though. So many questions left to be answered. The main one was the truth about Deckerd. Is he a robot? who knows, this is one of those things that creators of the film love happening with one of their characters. Blade Runner, had everything that one would expect in a Noir genre- Death, darkness, femme fatale, love. Definitely worth the watch and I’m glad i was able too, without this course i probably would not of.

If one were to consider my thesis for the final paper: Love in film noir leads to the downfall of the protagonist it is evident that the argument would not be very strong if I did not include Brazil. A story of a man who drastically changes his life in the pursuit of love. Sam Lowery a man who liked his simple repetetive life, and turned down any opportunity of advancement decides to change everything so that he may find a woman. The woman he searched for was literally the woman of his dreams. He often dreamt of her as a sort of fairy, trapped in a cage. Lowery played the hero in his dreams, and angel of sorts sent from the heavens to save her, to protect her from the darkness, and an evil entity similar to a samurai. He left his job to get access to information on this woman. He learns her files are on a different floor so he takes a lift which malfunctioned but gave him the opportunity to see her. She was arguing with the door guard about a wrongful arrest. Once he finally gets to his beloved Jill, he whisks her off and they have a wild ride. This ride eventually led them on a sort of lovers crime spree. With the adrenaline in their system from their crime spree they succumb to their animalistic passion, and fornicate. The day after finding his love, bonding with her, and being with her he freefalls to his destruction, his downfall. He is arrested and put in a sanitarium. In this sanitarium he is tortured to the point of a mental breakdown. He has a dream, or a hallucination of being saved, and living happily ever after. Unfortunately though his quest for love left broken, destroyed. No longer was Sam Lowery badge DZ-015, no longer would he wake up to coffee drenched toast, or a home with a crappy electrical system. Instead he was just a vegetable.  

In the 1974 film Chinatown starring Jack Nicholson as JJ ‘Jake’ Gittes who is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. A suspecting wife who suspects her husband is having an affair hires him. Hollis is the builder of the cities water supply. When he realizes that an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray hired him. Mr Mulwray is found dead. Now caught in a web of deceit and lies involving murder and corruption. He must find out what the right thing to do is and escape from this mess he got himself into. Chinatown is a classic modern day film noir with dynamic characters that maybe considered the best film noir characters in the genre. This movie has a great ending and you really appreciate the movie and the complexity of Roman Polanski’s greatest films. If you want to get students or anyone into the film noir genre this is the movie they should watch first. It was a very good film with a great story.

In the 1983 film Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford, it takes place in Los Angeles the year 2019. Rich Deckard is a blade runner, a hunter of the replicants. Humans have engineered Replicants, which are designed as humans for labor and entertainment. They are illegal on earth, and the blade runner is supposed to hunt them down and kill them. This group of replicants known as Nexus 6 life span is nearly up. So Rich Deckard is out to find these replicants and kill them. As the film goes on you question if Rich Deckard is a replicant himself implanted with memories of a former human. The film ends with the viewer speculating if he truly is human or not. This is one of my favorite movies for many reasons one being it’s a classic science fiction. I consider it a film noir for many reasons because there are many similar qualities like a crime, a law official, a femme fatale, and criminals.

In the film noir The Asphalt Jungle from 1950 you are introduced to Doc a legendary crime brain just out of prison. He has a plan for a million dollar burglary. Doc recruits a team of drivers, financial backers, safecrackers and a strong-arm by the name of Dix Handley. The plan goes like clockwork, and then slowly accidents start to occur to derail the robbery. Dix knows a women by the name if Doll Conovan who gets involved in the mess that Dix and Doc have gotten into. With the police on their tail they split up, with Doc getting caught and Dix being able to get home to his farm in Kentucky. This was an interesting film noir, but it was not the best the plot took a while to develop it could have been better but it set the tone for a classic film noir in the class.