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Friday, June 17, 2005
A Moving Recap of City History
The Museum of the City of New York has added a mind-blowing new permanent film: Timescapes, a history of New York City crammed into 25-minutes on three visually packed screens. The film is perhaps geared to give tourists an introduction to the city, but because of its grandiose broad sweep of history, the film is a moving and useful document for New Yorkers as well: from map depicting the phenomenal importance of the Erie Canal to the devastating images of the depopulation and related arson the city suffered during the 1970s. It divides the history of the city into five parts, like the Merchant City of the early 1800s, etc. The film calls the New York in the post-war era, when people were enchanted with getting out of cities generally, "The Regional City." Ouch! After the 1990s, however, we're clearly into a tremendous renaissance, and the film notes it.
I'm going to be straight with you now. There were parts of this short little film that brought a tear to my eye — something about the magnitude of investment and achievement in this ever swirling and bubbling cauldron of humanity. This movie hit the same nerve that is hit when I read the part in the novel Time and Again when Si Morley brings Julia Charbonneau from her home in 19th century brownstone, gaslight, horse-and-carriage and cobblestone Manhattan to his home in the 20th century: Same space, totally transformed. As Si and Julia approach the city from the bay, she stares in abject amazement at the burst of skyscrapers that crowd together at the battery, and asks, "What makes them stand up?"
What indeed. This short story is kind of all about that.
 - Posted at 12:28 AM |
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