Quote:
Originally Posted by sopas ej
At least in my subjective experience, by the late 1980s, NYC was already being portrayed as a "cleaned-up" city, definitely different from how it was portrayed in the 1970s, in films. "Moonstruck" made NYC look totally cool, IMO. "Working Girl" made NYC look hypercapitalist and the best place to be if you wanted to be surrounded by corporatist culture. "Bright Lights, Big City" made NYC out to be a decadent place, and a great place to drown your sorrows in drugs and alcohol.
At least in terms of film, it's interesting how cities have been portrayed. LA has at times been portrayed as decadent, shallow, glamorous, dangerous, crime-filled... dating back to the 1940s, even with film noir. "Not everything in LA is all sunshine and palm trees..."
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I love Cher and I love this movie! I thought about it when I wrote my post, but I don't see it as portraying a urban renaissance, but more a nostalgic, ethnic New York. At least to me it has this vibe that the best years were behind, and therefore more in line with the urban decay narrative.
Los Angeles in the movies, well, diversity is the biggest understatement. It can be anything. From
Clueless to
Collateral to
Laurel Canyon and thousands of different Los Angeles in between.