So when I was writing my blog about which movie affected me the most, I had not looked ahead in the syllabus to see what the next couple of blogs would be about; so naturally, I already answered the part of the question that addresses which portrayal of New York City was my favorite and which I found to be the most truthful.

I enjoyed The Muppets Take Manhattan the most, simply because it was, in my opinion, the most truthful. This film depicted that New York City is not always what everyone thinks it will be; the streets are not paved with gold, people are not throwing money at you, and success does not always come right away, if it comes at all. You can get mugged and sometimes not get any help from anyone. You might have to work in a grimy diner just to stay in the city, making no progress. There is a chance that you can succeed, if you meet the right people, that is.

The Muppets Take Manhattan tore down the common misconceptions about New York City, but did so in a comical way. For that reason, the film might get overlooked, however, just because a film has a whimsical tone and makes use of a couple of puppets here and there, it does not mean that it should not hold as much merit at a film like Wall Street.

Now speaking of Wall Street, I have decided that, since I accidentally already wrote about my favorite portrayal of New York City, I will share my least favorite portrayal: Wall Street.

Don’t get me wrong; it was a great movie. Did I get a special kind of happiness watching young Charlie Sheen? Of course. But was this portrayal of New York City the most truthful? Probably not. Some people who have never visited New York City but have watched this film might believe that every aspect of Wall Street was true and form opinions based on this one depiction of the city.

The film plants the idea that the rich stockbrokers of Wall Street made their fortunes through cheating a lying. Gordon Gekko is the embodiment of this. Gekko even teaches Bud Fox to do this. This is specifically juxtaposed against the good, hard-working blue collar workers, like Bud’s father, Carl. Carl is portrayed to be a very honest hard-working man who finds himself on the short end of the stick as a result of the rich stockbrokers’ actions.

Of course, the “the rich people are liars and cheats and don’t deserve their wealth” and the “the middle class guy actually works hard for a living and deserves the wealth” ideologies are easy to believe when one is in the position of the Carl-type people, but they are not always true. People can believe whatever they want, but not all wealthy people get rich by screwing over the little guys and not all middle class workers are as honest as we might want to believe. There are rich people out there that go out of their way to help those less fortunate and there are middle class people who make it a point to find ways to take the easy way out.

Moreover, New York City is not just a bunch of stockbrokers and airplane company workers. There are populations of people who are just not represented in Wall Street. As comical as it is, at least The Muppets Take Manhattan represented a wide range of people, from waitresses, to construction workers, to producers, to college students, to department store workers. A movie like Wall Street could really discourage people from coming to New York City in search of success.

Through all the movies I watched this semester, I was able to collect different glimpses of life in New York City. None are perfect, but they are like the different windows of a house: each provides a different view.