“Alias” and “Chinatown” References
Jessica Jones’ ambitious launch as a character in “Alias” featured an important bit of intertextuality to another iconic private detective story through an opening scene that references, quite clearly, the famous opening of the 1974 film Chinatown. #JessicaJones 1/8
Chinatown opens with a scene that reveals the seedy nature of the profession, the human frailties that sustain it, and the morally questionable role of the private investigator whose job it is to bring those frailties to light. 2/8
The first scene of Alias is very nearly identical, an obvious intertextual reference intended to establish a dialogue between the famous film & the comic’s universe/protagonist. Once established, that dialogue offers a lot of definition for what Alias is and will become. 3/8
Most obviously, the reference to Chinatown plays a large role then in establishing Alias as a work of neo-noir (like Chinatown). In the words of scholar Douglas Keesey: “highly self-conscious of their relation to past noirs, neo-noirs are characterised by blurred boundaries.” 4/8
Alias is both of these things; a love letter to classic noir detective stories, but also a story that permeates through the boundaries of the long-standing superhero genre, as evidenced by Jessica using her superpowers to throw her client through the window in this scene. 5/8
Furthermore, like Jack Nicholson’s Gittes, Jones is presented as an opportunist but not immune to romanticism – indeed, she can be downright vulnerable. Her character is adept at navigating the seedy world she occupies, but by no means comfortable with its textures. 6/8
As with Chinatown once again, Jessica’s world is controlled by untouchable powers, base instincts, and a veneer of social propriety that masks some of the more vicious and callous individuals at the centre of the story’s conflicts. 7/8
Combined, the reference to Chinatown is a good point of anchorage for the launch of Jessica Jones’ story and character by communicating, through intertextuality, some sense of what to expect in the years ahead. 8/8