It has always been strange to me the attraction that everyone has for New York City. It’s where I’ve grown up for most of my life, but it never really felt that interesting. Watching all these films about New York City this semester and focusing on them as they pertain to the social issues present and the image that the city has to everyone, I realized that there’s so much more to it than I had ever thought before. There is something about New York that either attracts everyone who is not from here or brings disgusts. New York City has a spectrum for us to view it in, there is the glamour, the wealth, the big flashy lights and tall buildings and then there is the poverty, the filth, and the tenements. There is definitely something about New York City that no other place in the world can emulate.
Despite some of the horrific images of New York City in Taxi Driver, The 25th Hour stood out to me personally. The scene where Travis Bickle shoots everyone was to say the least deranged, yet the monologue that Monty gives while looking at himself in the mirror was the most impressionable moment in all the movies we have seen so far this semester. The vulgarity of stereotypes present in his speech could not have highlighted the images of different groups in a more powerful way. His reference to the Wall Street brokers being like Gordon Gekko and trying to steal everything from those that work hard also demonstrated within the context of this movie the greed that is present in New York in addition to the grimy environment. The contrast in the movie is that through all the filth present, and Monty even being a drug dealer, it showed that there was hope. Monty doubts Naturelle, but she loves him and is willing to wait seven years for him to come back from prison. In all the shabbiness of the world, you would expect Frank to do something about his possible attraction to Naturelle, but he remains loyal to his friend. When he defaces Monty by beating him so badly, the second most impressionable moment in the movie, most would find it horrific; ultimately, he was being a good friend. What he does to Monty is much less than what they would do to him in prison, and he helped him. After this vivid scene, Frank bursts into tears and Monty, who is beaten horribly, makes his way over to Frank to comfort him. In all the corruption and the greed and the filth that we have seen in so many of these movies, The 25th Hour does show that there is justice and hope. Monty does go to jail to pay for the crime he has committed, and the few relationships he has formed have been true to him.
A movie that finds itself on the other end of the spectrum compared to 25th Hour, is Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It is one of the more classic movies of the image that New York City is thought to uphold. I had never really watched movies from that time period, and it really created an image that very flashy yet elegant. Holly comes to New York to create the life she dreams of. She goes about it in a misguided way by attempting to marry a wealthy man, but she wants to find the glamour that the city is known for. The façade that everyone puts on, like Holly exhibits, is the mask that many people put on. Her real name is not Holly, its Lula Mae, and she has no money despite her lavish appearance. This is something evident in society all the time, in order for us to belong, we focus on altering the appearance we give off to the world.
The overarching theme in all the movies we have watched is that no matter what all the negative images of New York City are and no matter how filthy, unjust, or greedy it may be, there is more to life here; there is hope in love, in friendship and in life.
