Comparing and Contrasting The Way New York Is Depicted In Countless Films
Comparing and Contrasting The Way New York Is Depicted In Countless Films
New York City has appeared in countless films since the birth of cinema. New York is such a distinctive, vibrant place, that the city is more than a background, it almost becomes a character of its own. Different filmmakers have different ways to showcase and interpret the city. John Schlesinger’s 1976 film, Marathon Man, follows a young graduate student’s descent into the world of espionage and Nazi war criminals. Written by William Goldman and starring Dustin Hoffman, Sir Laurence Olivier and Roy Scheider, Marathon Man is rated by Rotten Tomatoes at a solid 80% critics consensus, and when adjusted for inflation made approximately $95 million at the box office. Sir Laurence Olivier was nominated but did not win a best supporting actor award at that year’s Oscars. On the other hand, xxxxxxxx’s xxxx film, xxxxxxxxx, is about xxxxxxxxxxxxxx. It was written by xxxxxxxx and stars xxxxxxxxx. xxxxxxxx is rated by the IMBD as the xxxx best film ever made, and when adjusted for inflation, made xxxxx at the box office. By comparing how New York City is depicted, how the film’s protagonist is characterized, and how the city’s background characters are represented, one film stands out as a far more accurate look at New York City. That film is xxxxxxxxxxxx. Comparing and Contrasting The Way New York Is Depicted In Countless Films
The Landscape of New York City
The first way to compare and contrast two films about New York City is to examine how the city is photographed, and by attempting to place the film in terms of specific locations, times of day, and conditions. In Marathon Man, the action mostly takes place in and around the Upper East and Upper West Sides. The film is set in the mid-1970s during the economic downturn that hurt the city and drove up crime. The streets are dark and dirty. The townhouses are run-down and dangerous. Some scenes, in particular Babe’s chase takes place at night, making the city ominous and frightening. Marathon Man focuses on the immediate areas around Central Park including Lincoln Center, and Columbia University. Several key scenes take place in Central Park, which is described in the film as being a dangerous place and a good place to get mugged. Marathon Man shows a New York struggling to find its way out of the malaise of the 1970s.
In the following still image from Marathon Man, Thomas Babington “Babe” Levy, played by Dustin Hoffman, is shown running around Central Park’s reservoir. Comparing and Contrasting The Way New York Is Depicted In Countless Films Running around the Park is part of Babe’s training program, and a way he keeps fit as a graduate student. When running, he keeps his thoughts focused, and although the film does not identify who he keeps in his mind, it is Jessie Owens, the great African American Olympian who upstaged Hitler’s 1936 Nazi Olympics. This is an interesting use of the image of Owens as the film’s protagonist, Dr Szell is a Nazi war criminal in hiding. At the time of filming, the Central Park Reservoir, now named after Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis, was still in use occasionally providing the city with drinking water.
Figure 1. Central Park in Marathon Man.
[YOU WRITE 200 OR SO WORDS ABOUT NEW YORK CITY IN YOUR FILM AND BE SURE TO INCLUDE A PHOTOGRAPH AND DISCUSS THE PHOTOGRAPH]
The Protagonists
The second way to compare and contrast Marathon Man and xxxxxx is by examining the main characters. A film’s main character is also called the film’s protagonist. The protagonist of Marathon Man is Babe Levy, played by a young Dustin Hoffman. Babe is an awkward, geeky 20-something-year-old graduate student. A thin, pale, poorly-dressed young man, Babe is studying for a Ph.D. in history at Columbia University. Except for occasional visits from his brother, Babe is alone in New York. Babe a strange, loner with no real friends and apparently no success with romantic relationships. Although he lives a very impoverished lifestyle in a rough neighborhood where he is constantly abused, he remains optimistic for his future and stays in excellent physical condition. Babe is also obsessed with clearing his father’s name. His father was a university professor who after being accused of being a communist committed suicide. Comparing and Contrasting The Way New York Is Depicted In Countless Films Babe even keeps the gun that his father used to commit suicide.
The most important scene where we get an understanding of Babe’s character is when he is initially seen running around Central Park. Babe has an informal race with another runner, who eventually and quite easily beats Babe. But in Babe’s head, he focuses his thoughts and persists, refusing to give up. This trait of tenacity in the face of failure is what defines Babe as a character and is, ultimately, what saves him from certain death. Although he is just another random weirdo in New York City, he has his own internal heroic life, a life that eventually is expressed to the outside world. Babe is judgmental and righteous in his own way, self-sacrificing but also highly moralistic.
[YOU WRITE 200 OR SO WORDS ABOUT YOUR MOVIE AND BE SURE TO INCLUDE THE DESCRIPTION OF ONE SCENE AS EVIDENCE]
The Background Characters
The final way to compare and contrast Marathon Man and xxxxxxxx is by examining the background characters. The background characters in Marathon Man are mostly the people that encounters on a day to day basis from his neighbors to the people he sees running to the other students at Columbia. As such, we see a wide variety of New Yorkers from business men to petty criminals. The people that Babe sees range in age from young to old, and he sees people of all races and ethnicities. But we also meet other New Yorkers outside of Babe’s story. One of the most important depictions is the one that starts the film.
At the beginning of the film, the viewer encounters two elderly men, one is Jewish and one is German. They are driving crappy cars, one a massive American car of the day, the other a massive Mercedes Benz. They begin to annoy one another and quickly descend into a road rage episode. The depiction of these two men is interesting as they show the relationships between different groups of New Yorkers—the film contains a lot of racial tension, not least of all between Babe and his mostly Hispanic neighbors who perhaps see him as a potential gentrifier although gentrification is quite far away from 1976. Even the location where the road rage encounter takes place is interesting as it is the Upper East Side at around 86-90th streets from 2nd Avenue to the Park. Comparing and Contrasting The Way New York Is Depicted In Countless Films The neighborhood is primarily Jewish and German, making the road rage encounter fitting.
[YOU WRITE 200 OR SO WORDS ABOUT YOUR MOVIE AND BE SURE TO INCLUDE THE DESCRIPTION OF ONE SCENE AS EVIDENCE]
Conclusions
By comparing and contrasting the way that New York is depicted, the lives of the protagonists, and the appearance of the background characters, one film stands out as being a more accurate representation of New York City. The way that New York City was filmed in xxxxxxxxxx was much more compelling than in xxxxxxxxxx. In xxxxxxxxx, New York City looked more xxxxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxx, which is a better and more realistic image of the city at that time period. Similarly, with the films’ two protagonists, xxxxxxxxxxx in xxxxxxxxxx is a much more plausible New Yorker. People like xxxxxxxxxx are common sights in our city. Finally, the background inhabitants of xxxxxxxxxxx are far more representative of the normal people of New York City than xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. In xxxxxxxxxxxx, we have a good mix of the races and ages and ethnicities and occupations and social classes than in xxxxxxxxxxx. Taken together, these differences add up to xxxxxxxxxxxxxx being a better film about New York than xxxxxxxxxxxx. On a personal level, I found xxxxxxxxx to be more enjoyable to watch than xxxxx because xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Comparing and Contrasting The Way New York Is Depicted In Countless Films
References
Evans, R. and Beckerman, S. (Producers), & Schlesinger, J. (Director). (1976). Marathon Man [Motion Picture].United States: Paramount Pictures.
[YOUR FILM IN EXACTLY THE SAME FORMAT]
