What kind of movies/what movies shape your impression of a city?

Many movies and TV shows today are based in American cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Miami. These movies and shows usually portray one extreme side of the city, the glamorous side or the dangerous side. Not a lot of media today shows both sides of a city, which I think is very important to do when portraying such large cities. Shows such as Law and Order and CSI: Miami portray cities as dangerous places where crime is everywhere. While it is true that crime is more likely and more visible in large cities, these types of shows fail to show the audience the other side of the city and make the dangerous side very extreme. On the other hand, media such as Sex and the City and 27 Dresses make cities seem harmless and incredibly glamorous. These types of media are also not accurate portrayals of cities because the characters never seem to run into any kind of trouble with crime or danger. In my opinion, the movie RENT portrays New York City almost perfectly. On one side, it shows the dangers of the city: drugs, crime, diseases, etc. And on the other hand, it shows the fun, exciting side of the city: New Year’s Eve, parties, night life, etc. This movie also does a really good job at showing the other aspects of a typical city: wide variety of different types of people (race, sexuality, etc.), opportunities that cannot be offered in small towns and more rural areas, etc. RENT and other movies like this represent the city as the place to make your dreams come true, but also as a dangerous place where one must take precautions. 

As you can see from this video, just the introduction of Law and Order: Los Angeles portrays the city as a scary and dangerous place with a lot of crime.

The Disappearing City....


Cities, while they may seem to be places of progress and innovation, are often formless and only mechanically efficient. Cities do not meet our expectations of being places of beauty where the buildings interact and change along with the people living in the city. Instead cities use an extravagant amount of energy and their form is often complex and lacking in 21st century innovation. Progress, for cities, should not be measured by their size in area but in the character and feeling that a city evokes. Planners need to create cities where the form of the city follows the function of social needs of the people. Expansion does not always mean progress, and in many cases creates anti-cities, like suburbs. It seems as though this idea of urban development and planning has been debated for some time. In 1969 Nixon created the Urban Affairs Council. The following link is to an article from the time that follows this event. 


Nixon Addresses Urban Planning