The children’s cartoon show Arthur teaches various lessons about life, family, and education through the experiences of various characters. In an episode of the series, the character Brain has various dreams about the book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and replicates what it would be like to live life as Dr. Jekyll in everyday situations. Brain’s dreams about the book, narrated through singing, summarize the basic concept of the book’s plot and main character, which is that Dr. Jekyll creates a potion that accidentally brings out the worst characteristics within himself rather than removing them. The hidden evil nature of Dr. Jekyll that surfaces causes him to completely change both physically and psychologically into Mr. Hyde, an alter ego who is completely evil. Rather than having created a solution to remove the evil tendencies from within himself, Dr. Jekyll only made his situation worse with a faulty fix.
Source: YouTube Channel “Arthur Read”
The dual nature of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the potion he creates that causes him more problems rather than fixing them can be compared to the transformation of neighborhoods in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan. In the first two chapters of Sharon Zukin’s book Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places, Zukin describes what the neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Harlem used to be like between the early to late 20th century and how those neighborhoods have been changing up until the beginning of the 21st century. Williamsburg in the 1930s and 1940s was losing many businesses that occupied large factories, crime became more frequent, and less public services were being performed in order to maintain the overall infrastructure of the neighborhood. With rents increasing in Manhattan, many writers and artists decided to move into Williamsburg overtime, especially during the 1990s, and helped develop an underground party culture. Just as Dr. Jekyll kept his alter ego Mr. Hyde a secret from others, Williamsburg’s cultural events, such as musical performances, art galleries, and clubs, were only known to and gathered attendance from residents who generally were also art enthusiasts. These events were organized by people who spread the news by word-of-mouth through social networks that were built upon other spontaneous cultural events, and many events were poorly funded and held inside abandoned factories and buildings that could hold large groups of people.
However, after a few cultural events were brought to light through mainstream media coverage, Williamsburg’s underground party culture became synonymous with Williamsburg itself and began to cement its reputation as a cultural center. Like Dr. Jekyll’s suppressed nature, which was increasingly difficult to control and keep a secret as he became Mr. Hyde more frequently, Williamsburg began to embrace and grow its new cultural identity as more upper middle class, wealthy entrepreneurs, and private developers became attracted to the neighborhood. Many new businesses were being started in Williamsburg, such as exotic restaurants, bars, a brewery, and a fashion company. With the influx of richer artists, actors, writers, and entrepreneurs, as well as the increasing desire of private developers to build in Williamsburg, many long-time residents and businesses are being forced to leave due to the rise in rent. A similar situation is occurring in Harlem with the “new” Harlem Renaissance, which is forcing low-income residents and small, locally-owned businesses to relocate as a result of private developers creating new buildings for branch and chain stores. After crime rates and drugs use began to decrease, commercial development was being pushed by the federal government through the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, which offered funds and tax incentives to encourage private developers to build in Harlem. Though the increase in wealthy residents, marketing development, and high-rise development may seem like it is causing a revival in Williamsburg and Harlem, it may possibly be a solution that will only cause more problems, as with the case of Dr. Jekyll’s potion.
Both the neighborhood cultures of Williamsburg and Harlem, as well as the neighborhood environments in which the cultures sprung forth from, can be paralleled to the dual nature of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Though the “authentic” culture of Williamsburg and Harlem gained popularity through the spread of media, such as through clubs and parties from Williamsburg and the hip-hop music and portrayals of the ghetto in movies from Harlem, these cultures arose from poor living conditions and disregard for the well-being of the neighborhoods. With Harlem, conditions were much slower to change than in Williamsburg, but both neighborhoods experienced high levels of crime, drug use and trade, abandonment of buildings, and the lessening of support to make conditions better. The past cultures of these neighborhoods are being lost and replaced with the new cultures, which parallels the loss of Dr. Jekyll’s true self and the eventual permanence of Mr. Hyde’s presence. Even though some parts of each neighborhood that are being gentrified may seem to be doing well based on the appearances of new buildings and stores, at the same time there are no alternatives or solutions that are being offered to long-time residents. Since private developers are not forced to create affordable housing for residents, though they are incentivized with tax subsidies by the government to do so, a proper solution still seems yet to be made.
Questions to Consider:
1.) What plans could the government employ to ensure that long-time residents and businesses can remain in their neighborhood?
2.) Should long-time residents and businesses be guaranteed the ability to stay in their neighborhood? Why or why not?
3.) What other alternatives may exist to reviving a neighborhood besides the introduction of new markets and high-rise apartments?
