There is so much more to New York City than what any one view can portray. Throughout the semester we have read plays and watched various movies that have attempted to shed light on what New York City is all about. Each director or playwright highlighted the images that they found most spectacular about the city, whether this was a positive image or one full of greed and disgust. The only problem is that there is no one correct view of New York City. Just like every other city there are wealthy people and neighborhoods, and there are dangerous areas where you should be wary. Depending on what time period, location, and people you find yourself surrounded by will give you a totally different perspective of New York City.
The very first movie we watched this semester, Wall Street, brought to light the greed and corruption that is present in the financial district of New York City. In wealthy communities as seen in this movie people often find themselves overwhelmed with the need to just keep gaining more money no matter how rich they already are. The flashy life appeals to Bud, and he lets Gordon Gekko become his mentor; this leads Bud to making all kinds of immoral decision. In the end, he does not let himself sell out to Gekko’s obscene morals; he is punished for his actions and appears to be a changed man. Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage then continued to illustrate the lack of morals that New Yorkers have. The plot is full of ex-convicts, alcoholics, and drug addicts. Despite their out of ordinary ways of going about it, they are all full of dreams and aspire to get somewhere. Most of the works we studied this semester portrayed New York City in more than one light, and we as an audience had the ability to choose what stuck out to us.
From all the works we saw this semester, Craig Wright’s Recent Tragic Events stood out to me. It was not the most descriptive in showing New York City as a whole because it focused on one event and how specific people felt during it; despite this, it was a very effective work of literature. There was something off about Andrew’s character from the beginning of the play, and when the plot revealed his connection to Waverly’s sister, I was completely immersed in it. Wright displayed the confusion that was occurring with all the 9/11 events in a very realistic way. There was so much confusion and denial on everyone’s part that no one knew how he should behave.
Deciding which of all the works is the most truthful to what New York City is all about is extremely challenging. They all highlight certain things that are very instrumental to what New York is. With how current events are turning out, I am sad to say that a movie like Do the Right Thing is a part of an image of New York that still is evident. The tragic events that occur in it continue to be a part of our society; yet, this movie is still not exactly what New York City is, at least not today. If I would have to pick one work that illustrates New York City in the most truthful way, it would be Wall Street. Most that are in New York are in search of that dream and accomplishing the impossible. On our way to trying to achieve this, we start to question our ideals. If all our true, hard work is getting us nowhere and when people like Gekko on Wall Street cheat and make it so big, why shouldn’t we be doing the same thing? Being successful and having everything makes it really complicated in standing by your morals. This was something that Wall Street demonstrated very well. It appears that it only shows the greed and corruption, but that’s not where the point lies; there are the wealthy, and there is the middle class, and so on, and we all struggle to survive one way or another, going about things in either honest or dishonest ways. That is something that occurs everywhere. In all of these works it is important to note that New York City serves as a symbol, a symbol that stands for hope and the ability to make something of yourself.
