Juxtaposition
Honors Seminar Website Project (click on title)
After watching plenty of films centered on New York City during my Peopling of NYC seminar, it became clear that in order to capture the essence of the course, I would have to do so through visual means. So much of New York City’s aura is founded on the rich cultural history of its inhabitance, the majority of whom can trace their heritage to countries around the globe. These immigrants animate the streets of New York with their language, traditions and attitude and have carved out the topography of the city through migration and settlement. Many of the movies exhibited throughout this course illuminate a time and place in which the ethnicity and culture of its subject material play a central role in the personality of the narrative and setting and clearly distinguish a cultural microcosm in which one or more ethnicities constitute the framework of the film.
In our project, we are juxtaposing stills from movies covered in this course that display a certain neighborhood, that capture the culture and personality of the time, with pictures taken present-day of that same neighborhood, that attempt to illuminate the similarities and differences of then and now. We’ve chosen filming locations throughout the city that are indicative of the culture and plot of the movie, and of course that are accessible to two young men on a busy schedule. West Side Story (1961), The Pawnbroker (1964), Hester Street (1975), and Goodfellas (1990) were chosen to showcase the ethnic diversity of New York City.
For West Side Story, frames from the opening sequence, in which the Sharks and the Jets combatively dance around the streets of west side Manhattan, are juxtaposed with shots of the concrete monuments that now replace the subpar neighborhood the movie was set in. Pictures of Lincoln Center and Fordham University display the radical changes that have occurred in the neighborhood over the years. Although up for interpretation, the high-society buildings that now comprise the west side can be seen to represent Richard Dyer’s whiteness and it’s gradually attempt at the normalization and sterilization of marginal ethnicity.
The Pawnbroker presents a less dramatic change, both topographically and ethnically. Shot on 116th Street and Park Ave, among other places throughout New York, The Pawnbroker is set in what was known as, and what is still known as, a neighborhood comprised mainly of racial minorities. The ebb and flow of locals that pass through Mr. Nazerman’s pawnshop illustrate the ethnic composition of the neighborhood. The corner of 116th and Park, upon which our pictures were taken, was once home to a restaurant/bar that bordered Mr. Nazerman’s shop. Nowadays, it’s a convenience store. However, the timeless overpass situated in front of pawnshop is still there, a testimony to the enduring personality of the neighborhood. Some of the small, tenement style apartment buildings displayed behind Mr. Nazerman still exist, although they are adorned with modern day delis and all-purpose stores. On the end of the street, newer project-like buildings dress the streets, standing a little taller than its older, smaller counterparts.
The juxtaposition of pictures from the movie Hester Street, which presents us a view the Lower East Side circa the turn of the 20th century, with photos from present-day illustrate a clear distinction among time periods—however, there is something oddly reminiscent about the comparison. The crowded market places exhibited in the film have receded into history, however there remains a sense of compactness within the tenement-style buildings, the multitude of fire escapes, and the small shops that line the streets. Physical remnants of a substantial Jewish population can still be found on the streets of the Lower East Side. The area, still brimming with life and personality, has evolved into a slightly cleaner, greener, and less congested area.
Finally, there comes a neighborhood that has retained much of it street-flair: Astoria, Queens. Now an incredibly diverse neighborhood, Astoria was Scorsese’s locale of choice in filming the opening sequences of Goodfellas. The apartment-house complexes that were used as Henry Hill’s house are similar to the complexes that line the streets of most of Astoria, and the busy avenues full of cars remain. The elevated rail that carries the N and Q train are still a trademark of the neighborhood. While the attire may have changed and while an influx of culturally diverse newcomers have entered the sphere of Astoria-living, the neighborhood retains a feel similar to the neighborhood seen in Goodfellas—minus the overt organized crime.
by Daniel Schwartz
Hola, mis amigos! For our website project, Daniel and I have made a collaborative effort to compare the New York of the past to the New York of the present. Essentially, we took pictures from the movies West Side Story (1961), Goodfellas (1990), The Pawnbroker (1964), and Hester Street (1975) to represent the New York of the past. Then, we visited some of the filming locations in these particular movies to take snapshots of how New York is depicted in the present. Our main goal was to juxtapose the New York of the past in these four movies to the New York today. Daniel and I visited Astoria, Queens for Goodfellas (1990) and traveled to Essex Street in Manhattan to represent the film Hester Street (1975). In addition, we visited 110th street in Manhattan and Lincoln Center for the West Side Story (1961) and 116th Street for The Pawnbroker (1964). We chose this particular media text because we felt that movies played a central role in the class and by comparing the New York in these movies to the New York today we can gain more insight on how New York has changed from past to present. We felt that this media text may help others to better comprehend visually how New York changed in terms of ethnicity and the environment from the past to present.
When we juxtaposed the photos of the New York in the present to the New York in the past shown in the movies, we noticed many differences. We can definitely say New York has evolved into a more diverse and aesthetically appealing location for people of all sorts to reside in. For instance, from the pictures we obtained we saw that the New York today is definitely more heterogeneous in its population, with people of all kinds together. The environment of New York also changed drastically. For example, streets seemed less crowded than they did in the past, there are a larger variety of shops and restaurants to visit now, and everything is so modernized with the technological advances that exist today. However, some similarities did exist between the New York of the past and the New York of the present. For instance, the structure of buildings and houses slightly changed in New York when we visited the filming locations. There were also several tenements in East Harlem and enclaves in New York today that resembled those in the past, as well. Another important feature the pictures revealed is that people clearly dressed up more differently in the past than they did today. In addition, the pictures of the present New York illustrated many foreign signs or names for stores and restaurants. This was important because the foreign labeling showed the influence of a variety of cultures on New York. The New York today is a more diverse and cultural place than it used to be in the past, as seen through the pictures. The beauty of New York is also witnessed via the pictures because its glamorous appearance and myriad of opportunities is what made it so popular amongst immigrants.
Overall, New York is a more culturally diverse place than it used to be with people of various ethnicities intermingling with one another. The New York today still has some of its past characteristics embedded within it, such as the magnificent buildings and ghetto communities, but is now very modernized and variegated in its population. When the pictures we took from the filming locations of the four selected movies were juxtaposed to the present day New York, the drastic change in New York City describe above is evident. The Statue of Liberty, the variety of foreign stores, and the development of several disparate communities are just some examples of how ethnically diverse New York is today.
by Vishal Vig
