Film Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Film Studies - Essay Example He was born and raised in New York and has a Jewish background which is often displayed by many of his heroes in films. He certainly has a love affair with the city since the majority of his films are located and situated around New York and its surroundings. His comedic talents were obvious from his younger days in school as well as his stay at New York University and the City College of New York (Wikipedia, 2007). With this set of close connections to the city his films and words can be examined to show his vision of modern city life. The first film which can be connected to these ideas is Manhattan. It was a commercial success when it came out in 1979 and for all practical purposes; it was a love letter from Woody Allen to the city of his birth (Lee, 2005). The story of the film connects with two couples who are within the city but for our purposes the opening sequence of the film becomes very important. The opening scenes of Manhattan show a montage city life which includes the skyline, eating places in the city, parades on New York streets, the parks of the cities and other important civic landmarks. At the same time, the voiceover given by the character of Isaac shows how much the city is loved by the writer. The adoration towards New York City is painfully obvious even if Isaac does not like many of the people living in the city or their behaviour towards him and others. While the city seems to have lost its value in some way since it seems to take out the idea of individuality from the people living in it, it gives something back to them in terms of creating a fraternity of city dwellers that have quite a lot in common. While a city like New York certainly contains prostitutes, drugs, criminal elements and even things which people would move to avoid, Allen focuses on the brighter side of living in a city rather than the suburbs. The brighter side shows a vision of high theatres, classical music concerts, museums and even a shot