What is it about you. You’re big. You’re Loud. You’re tough NYC.
I go years without you, then I can’t get enough.
Enough of the cab drivers answering back in the language far from pure.
Enough of [the] frankfurters answering back [too].
Brother, you know you’re in NYC.
[It’s always] Too busy, too crazy, too hot, too cold, [and] too late.
I’m sold again, on NYC (Annie – N.Y.C.)
I know exactly what you’re thinking and you’re wrong. It isn’t because I ran out of ideas. Pfft it’s far from that… ish. But the real reason I decided to paraphrase these lyrics from Annie was because it just so happens to be the first thing that came to mind after reading the prompt.
And from what I can remember, Mr. Warbucks’ singing wasn’t half bad. For me he was probably the first male actor I remember singing [well] in a film. What attracted me to his part in particular was the way he described our city. He had managed to fit in glimpses of the city that were familiar to me—assembling them into a cheerful and fairly convincing song.
It’s a shame that it doesn’t always work out that way. From what I’ve heard, the sounds of New York can be loud, deafening in fact, and even scary. Even scarier than politics. The sounds of gunshots, rape screams, and street violence. There are portions of New York that I haven’t seen and have only heard about from the news and word of mouth.
In the films Do The Right Thing and Taxi Driver, I was able to see the darker side of New York that was previously unknown to me. I took into consideration that the films were shot in the past, but it’s still hard to believe that it’s the same city I grew up in.
The incident that occurred at Sal’s pizzeria (Do The Right Thing) was a tragedy. Knowing that it was all scripted didn’t change much, I felt disgusted at all the racism and hate that was spread throughout the community. Although forms of racism still exist today, it was nothing like what I had seen, like there was two different definitions of the word.
How is it possible for something to balloon to new proportions and literally burst into flames like that? I am familiar with Korean deli owners, Italian pizzerias, Latino and Black delinquents, but I have never seen them that pissed off at one another. It was like each group had something negative to say about the other—attacks on even the most ridiculous of things, eating habits for instance. How could New York, the place I have learned to love, be so painful to watch?
Taxi Driver exposed an entirely different darkness, characterized by prostitution and under-aged sex. The idea wasn’t unheard of, but I didn’t REALLY think it was that bad until all the excessive violence and murders were shown. It seemed so surreal, one minute a guy is chasing love, and the other he goes commando. The fight scenes were a tad exaggerated and left me skeptical, but I had gotten a feel for the history that was being shown to us. It wasn’t pleasant and I didn’t expect it to be. I don’t think murder can ever be justified.
I can’t really say I’m accustomed to seeing films about New York. I haven’t been into the city enough to understand anything besides its hustle and bustle, and I haven’t been exposed to the so-called violence existing in Brooklyn, the Bronx, or Harlem. Neither one of the New Yorks felt real, and perhaps it’s a refusal on my part—I refuse to believe that the city we live in now could of existed in such a state of turmoil. I’m just too damn prideful.
I hope these films are just magnifications of regular street violence, just some work of fiction, just a source of entertainment.
I really do. It’s a shame if the New Yorkers of before had to live like that.
A real shame.
