Landscape and Structure of Tokyo

Thoughout the semester we watched many noir films, and a lot of them took places in the city. For example, Maltese Falcon takes in San Fransisco, and Double Indemnity is in Los Angeles. The city is an important key for the noir films, and there is a connection between the city and noir, and a reason for it.

Land scapes and structure of the cities are very complicated. Comparing to rural side, it is very hard to see the neiborhood because there are tall buildings that block your view. And the complicated structures of the cities make the story more interesting. For example, when one is trying to escape from someone, it is more thrilling to see someone running in a hide and seek-like environment. This environment is the city where a lot of buildings, streets, and people exist.

The city is also narrow and small environment, which gives the tightness in the movie. Usually the rooms in rural area are bigger than the ones in the city. So the small rooms in city can represent the limit, hardness, and tightness of the character.

Speaking of these characteristics of the city, Tokyo is one of the most complicated city with high density of people. There are many narrow streets that run through the city. Once you get into these tight streets, it is hard to get out, which gives the mystery and confusion in the film.

The city is like the complicated human body. You have big organs like the heart, lungs and liver... blood vessel connect each other, and there are small capillary vessel. You need both of them, otherwise the body cannnot function right. The city has big towns in different locations. Big street connect each other, but there are the narrow street here in Tokyo that connects the big streets. And in film noir, the the system and structure of the city is necessary.