Freud in Chinatown.

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown!" and the credits rolled. As the credits rolled, I was left speechless and stunned with the truth and ending of 'Chinatown'. Indeed, this movie left an extreme impact on me and it took me some time to process the movie. In fact, I went home, search the movie and read the synopsis in order to complete the missing puzzle in my mind. I was amazed with Polanski's work on how he leads the audience to fill in every single pieces of the puzzle. Everything linked and made sense, from the iris, to the glasses and what not, the shot at her flawed eye. Not to mention, the ending... the ending was truly powerful and left me in awed.  A true work of brilliance! As Chairman Rey discussed 'Chinatown' in the next class, he related it to Sigmund Freud's theory. Then, I came to realization that 'Chinatown' is strongly associated to Freud's theory.

According to Freud, we are born with our Id.  The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met.  Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle.  In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. The id doesn't care about reality, about the needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction (Id, Ego, Superego, and the Unconscious in Psychology 101 at AllPsychOnline). The Id can be associated to Noah Cross when he said "I don't blame myself. You see, Mr. Gits. Most people never have to face the fact that at the right time, the right place, they're capable of anything" (Dirks). Cross was indirectly stating that he had an incestuous relationship with her daughter, Evelyn. The word "anything" was indeed frightening. 

 "I don't blame myself. You see, Mr. Gits. Most people never have to face the fact that at the right time, the right place, they're capable of anything" 

The ego is based on the reality principle. The ego understands that other people have needs and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run.  Its the ego's job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation.The Superego is the moral part of us and develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on us by our caregivers.  Many equate the superego with the conscience as it dictates our belief of right and wrong. According to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation  (Id, Ego, Superego, and the Unconscious in Psychology 101 at AllPsychOnline). Therefore, it is not shocking to us that Gittes was dumbfounded with the truth that Evelyn had an incestuous relationship with her father. After all, as an audience, I was in complete surprise and in utter disgust after Evelyn revealed the truth. This is because we know that incest is probably the biggest sin one can commit and it's against all society and religion beliefs. The teachings of our religion is our superego and our ego tells us not to commit incestuous relationship.


A Freudian slip is a verbal or memory mistake that is believed to be linked to the unconscious mind. Common examples include an individual calling his or her spouse by an ex's name, saying the wrong word or even misinterpreting a written or spoken word (Cherry). An obvious Freudian Slip was the word “glass”. The Chinese gardener tells Gittes “Salt water. Bad for glass.” Actually he was pointing that the salt water was bad for the grass. He asked the gardener to fish out the sparkling object he had seen earlier but didn't have time to fish out. The object is a pair of cracked spectacles (Dirks). Coincidence much?  After realization, "glass" unconsciously linked the glasses, the salt-water, and possibly, the murderer.


The movie 'Chinatown' can be related to Freud's Life Instincts (Eros), sometimes referred to as sexual instincts, the life instincts are those that deal with basic survival, pleasure, and reproduction. These instincts are important for sustaining the life of the individual as well as the continuation of the species. While they are often called sexual instincts, these drives also include such things as thirst, hunger, and pain avoidance. The energy created by the life instincts is known as libido (Cherry). In my opinion, this can be interconnected to Noah Cross's persistence to find Katherine. Perhaps, reproduction and continuation of species is the driving force behind his desperate behavior.

A fixation is a persistent focus on an earlier psychosexual stage. Until this conflict is resolved, the individual will remain "stuck" in this stage. For example, a person who is fixated at the oral stage may be over-dependent on others and may seek oral stimulation through smoking, drinking, or eating (Cherry). In 'Chinatown', we could see that Jake Gittes is constantly smoking. Possibly, during his oral stage he may be over-dependent.

Orally frustrated?

Work Cited

Cherry, Kendra. "Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development." About.com Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/psychosexualdev.htm>.

Cherry, Kendra. "Life and Death Instincts." About.com Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/a/instincts.htm>.

Cherry, Kendra. "What Is a Freudian Slip?" About.com Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/f/freudian-slip.htm>.

Dirks, Tim. "Chinatown (1974)." Filmsite. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://www.filmsite.org/chin4.html>.

"Id, Ego, Superego, and the Unconscious in Psychology 101 at AllPsychOnline."AllPsychOnline. N.p., 22 Sept. 2002. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://allpsych.com/psychology101/ego.html>.