Cinematic Urbanism: A History of the Modern from Reel to Real [1 ed.] 0415700485, 0415700493, 0203413032, 9780415700481, 9780415700498, 9780203413036

Table of contents :
Introduction: The Cinematic City and the Quest for the Modern 1. Industrial Modernity: The Flâneur and the Tramp in the Early Twentieth Century 2. Urbanizing Modernity: The Traditional Cinematic Small Town 3. Orwellian Modernity: Utopia/Dystopia and the City of the Future Past 4. Cynical Modernity, or the Modernity of Cynicism 5. From Postmodern Condition to Cinematic City 6. Voyeuristic Modernity: The Lens, the Screen and the City 7. The City through Different Eyes: The Modernity of the Sophisticate and the Misfit 8. An Alternative Modernity: Race, Ethnicity and the Urban Experience 9. Exurban Postmodernity: Utopia, Simulacra and Hyper-Reality. A Final Note

Citation preview

CINEMATIC URBANISM

A History of the Modern from Reel to Real

Cinematic Urbanism presents an urban history of modernity and postmodernity through the lens of cinema while arguing that urbanism cannot be understood outside the space of the celluloid city. Nezar AlSayyad traces the dissolution of the boundary between real and reel through time and space via a series of films that represent different modernities. He contrasts the 'rational' European city of early twentieth-century industrial modernity as portrayed by Berlin: Symphony ef a Big City (1927) with its American counterpart in Modern Times (1936). He illustrates the different forms of small town life and an urbanizing modernity across the Atlantic as exemplified by Cinema Paradiso (1989) and]t's a Wondeiful Life (1946). Using Metropolis (1927) and Brazil (1985), he �hows how utopian ideals harbour within them their dystopian realities, while Jacques Tati' s nostalgia for tradition in Mon Oncle (1958) and Playtime (1967) rev�als a cynical modernity and a rebelling against its idealism. AlSayyad argues that the postmodern city of Blade Runner (1982) and Falling Down (1993) illustrates some of the urban outcomes of a globalizing economy. Turning to spectacle and surveillance, he examines Rear Window (1954), Sliver (1993), and The End efViolence (1997) as a voyeuristic modernity. To understand the city experienced by in'dividuals of different social backgrounds, he takes Manhattan (1979), Annie Hall (1977), and Taxi. Driver (1976), while Do the Right Thing (1989) and My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) are used to explore a modernity of race and ethnicity. Finally, he uses Pleasantville (1998) and The Truman Show (1998) to unpack the hyperreality of exurban postmodernity and to demonstrate how today the real and the reel have become mutually constitutive. By considering how the real city and the reel city reference each other in an act of mutual representation and definition, this book advances the discussion on cinematic space and theories of the city.

The history of the cinematic interpretation of the city has emerged as a new field of inquiry bringing together the history of art and architecture, urban, social and cinema studies. Nezar AlSayyad has provided the most lucid and thoughtful introduction to this exciting new intellectual terrain to date. Dietrich Neumann) Professorfor the History efModern Architecture) Brown University) USA

CINEM

IC UR ANI M 1

A History of the Modern from Reel to Real

Nezar AlSayyad

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NEW YORK AND LONDON

First published by Routledge,270 Madison Avenue,New York,NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square,Milton Park,Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN

Contents

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2006 Nezar AlSayyad Typeset in Aldine and Swiss by PNR Design,Didcot Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,mechanical or other means,now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

About the author

ix

Preface

xi

Introduction: the cinematic city and the quest for the modern ·

1

The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.

1 Industrial modernity: thefianeur and the tramp in the early twentieth century city

19

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

2 Urbanizing modernity: the traditional cinematic small town

45

3 Orwellian modernity: utopia/dystopia and the city of the future past 71

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

4 Cynical modernity, or the modernity of cynicism

AlSayyad,Nezar Cinematic urbanism :a history of the modern from reel to real/ Nezar AlSayyad. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-70048-5(hb :alk. paper)-ISBN 0-415-70049-3(pbk :alk. paper) 1. Cities and towns in motion pictures. 2. City and town life in motion pictures. I.Title

97

5 From postmodern condition to cinematic city

123

6 Voyeuristic modernity: the lens, the screen and the city

147

7 The modernity of the sophisticate and the misfit: the city through different eyes

169

8 An alternative modernity: race, ethnicity and the urban experience

189

2006007637

9 Exurban postmodernity: utopia, simulacra and hyper-reality

211

ISBN10: 0-415-70048-5(hb) ISBN10:0-415-70049-3(pb) ISBN10: 0-203-41303-2(eb)

Epilogue

23 7

Illustration credits and sources

241

ISBN13:978-0-415-70048-1(hb) ISBN13:978-0-415-70049-8(pb) ISBN13:978-0-203-41303-6(eb)

Selected bibliography

247

Index

249

PN1995.9.C513A47 2006 791.43'621732'-dc22

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