Honestly I can’t really say that either view of New York City is familiar to me cause I grew up very sheltered and wasn’t exposed to the types of things shown in the movies. I had (and still have lol) overprotective parents who didn’t allow me to roam aimlessly or take the subways by myself until I was like 15 or 16. Also, I lived on the Upper West Side, which was a nicer neighborhood, and went to private Jewish school my whole life, which added to my sheltered life. We called it living in “the bubble.” Anyway, enough about me-back to the movies. In “Taxi Driver” and “Do The Right Thing,” the New York they show is the New York from the 1970s and 80s, when it was more dangerous and full of prostitutes, pimps and gangs. Nowadays it is very different- it is much cleaner and safer and a big tourist attraction. Times Square is no longer the place to go if you want to pick up a prostitute or see a porno movie like in “Taxi Driver,” now Times Square is where you go if you want to see a Broadway show, or the big lights and crowds of tourists. People go there just to hang out and walk around with friends, or even to shop. Back then this never woulda happened. I read the newspapers and watch the news, etc, so I know that not every area is safe and many crimes still happen. Murders, rapes, robberies and muggings are daily occurrings. But since I’ve been so sheltered I haven’t actually been exposed to any of the crime and violence firsthand, which is why none of the New Yorks represented in the movies were familiar to me. My New York, the New York I grew up in, is very different than the ones shown on TV, making them completely unfamiliar.
So in Taxi Driver I don’t think there were many communities shown. It was basically Travis who was a loner and doesn’t qualify as a community, and the Palantine community of supporters. That type of community I can relate to because I remember when McCain was running against Obama and it was like there were separate communities- the McCain supporters and the Obama supporters (I was a McCain supporter), so in that sense it was familiar to me.
In Do The Right Thing there were four communities I can think of- the black community, the Hispanic community, the Italian community and the Korean community. Again, in real life these communities are unfamiliar to me. The closest I’ve come to experiencing these communities is when I went with my friend to SoHo and we visited Chinatown. But that was about it and it was only once. It wasn’t like I was exposed to those different types of communities daily. But what was familiar to me was the racism towards each group. The movie was equally racist to all of them, and that was familiar to me. Unfortunately the world is still full of racism today, and that includes New York. There is racism based on color and based on religion.
I remember once I was walking to synagogue on a Saturday and some guy spit at me because I was Jewish. I didn’t feel personally insulted, but it was pretty rude and it was just sad that this kind of racism is still present and familiar today. I wish I could say I wasn’t familiar with that kind of racism. I wish I could say no one was familiar with it, and hopefully sometime in the future no one will be.
I just don’t understand racism. Why do people care so much? We should all just be tolerant- even if I don’t agree with what you’re doing, you do what you do and I do what I do, end of story. I don’t understand why people feel the need to get involved in other people’s business and start hating for no reason. For example, gay marriage. I’m not saying I’m pro or against it. My view is you do what you do and I’ll do what I do. I can get a straight marriage, you can get a gay marriage, and that’s it. If someone doesn’t believe in it, then just don’t get it for yourself. Also regarding religion and color- who cares? You believe what you believe and I’ll believe what I believe. No one says you have to agree with someone else’s belief or lifestyle, but there is no reason not to be tolerant. The Muslim-Jewish-Christian racism is actually the stupidest because they’re all monotheistic and they all believe in the same God, they just give him different names.
That rant was a little off topic, but that’s basically my views on racism. It’s just stupid and doesn’t make sense. Don’t do it.
