Cities in Media and Film!!
Architecture serves as a metaphor for the human mind.
I was really looking forward to this lecture due to my passion for the city, and the fact that its almost a character involved in the plot instead of being an inanimate creation.
So what does the city represent?
Dreams and Ambitions?
Or an artefact to show the development of modern society.
A Civilization
We as humans have always felt the need to tame the landscape (more so in the modern world) and the city could be our way of trying to tame it!
The difference with the city and modern arts is the fact that we can choose to ingest certain forms of art, for example, we choose to watch TV and to turn it off, we choose to walk into an art gallery and decide when to walk out. but the city is very much forced upon us, its an unavoidable character in the journey of life.
The fact that the city could be perceived as a character can be an incrementally developed one at that, due to the modernisation of the city. if you compare earlier sky scrapers to modern day ones, the style has very much changed (very much like how art has taken into different movements).
Also from the cinemas relationship with the city, it also agrees that the city is a character. for example, in the 1949 film The Fountainhead, the scene 'Bit of the old bit of the new' an architect is brought in to discus his building for commission, and the board responsible for the funding have given the architect a couple of changes to make the building look more modern, whilst still holding on to the classic look.
The architect replies with this:
"..."
Which is a great way of describing the city!
But the countryside can also be very alienating, I wanted to emphasise the dichotomy that the city creates; you cant have a 'city' without having the 'countryside' either. we can see the sinister side of the countryside portrayed in the shining, the opening scene without the music would appear very picturesque and nice, but because of the music it creates a very dark representation of the countryside, one that relates to the modernist view of the city; being alone. a small fish in a big pond
Anything could happen ...
This relates back to the dark side of the city.
the city as a labyrinth of streets and alleyways in which you can get lost, but in the end you will be exactly where you started.
In terms of animation, there is more chance to emphasise certain aspects of the city to create a darker atmosphere or a lighter one, in metropolis the film, there was a celebratory representation of modernity with the streets being grid locked and busy, which has turned out to be the opposite of celebratory
As an example, one of my favourite cities in animation is the city of rapture from Bioshock 1 and 2 the game:
Its an abandoned (partially)
But also its a chance to create more realistic interpretations of the city, in Grand Theft Auto 5. its an innovation in the modern world of video games, the vast expanse of the city in which you inhabit is extraordinary in terms of realism and detail! which sort of celebrates the city in a way as it re-kindles the love of the city.
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