New York Story


View New York Story in a larger map

As one of the most famous city in the world, New York City attracts many filmmakers to produce films in here. Yet, not all of these films show the city as a whole. Just as the city is divided into many neighborhoods, most of these films are set in a particular neighborhood in New York City. Because of the historical backgrounds, these neighborhoods can often represent the themes of the films. For example, films set in Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant are usually about racial conflicts and inequality, because they are two of the most underprivileged neighborhoods in the city. The directors set the films in these communities to advocate people’s awareness about the problems exist among the underprivileged people in New York City. Films set in Lower East Side are usually about immigrants’ struggles to assimilate into the mainstream American society, because many immigrants have once live in this neighborhood. It preserves one of the most important parts of the history of New York City. However, no matter what neighborhoods the films are set in and what the themes are, all of these films tell people a New York story. Whether the stories are happy or sad, yearning or disappointed, romantic or prosaic, they are all contained in this less than three hundred and three square miles city. Yet, with a more than eight million city population, all of these stories can indeed happen.

As the title suggested, my project tells a “New York Story” through different New York City films. I organize the films I saw in class into different neighborhoods. Using the map as my primary tool, I can show the approximate location of the setting of the films. These films can help us to better discover New York City under its surface by showing common New Yorkers’ stories as well as different types of problems among them. We can also understand more about the city through the overall theme of the film and characters’ identities. There are many more films that can be added to this map. Maybe you can help me to add them to this map to make the New York story more complete and attractive.

Rui Yan Ma

(You can click on the link of the film to see more detail!)