Cinematic urbanism : a history of the modern from reel to real

The city and the cinema have become inextricably intertwined over the last century, with the identities of places becoming bound up in their cinematic portrayals. We have seen the landmarks of New York, London and Tokyo turn into iconic symbols of wealth, power, status, style and culture, and for the majority of people the images and sounds of movies form the only experience they will ever have of distant cities. Cinematic Urbanism presents an urban history of modernity and postmodernity through the lens of cinema. AlSayyad traces the dissolution of the boundary between real and reel through time and space via a series of films that represent different modernities. They include: Cinema Paradiso It's a Wonderful Life Metropolis Brazil Blade Runner Annie Hall Taxi Driver Do the Right Thing My Beautiful Laundrette The Truman Show . Alsayyad argues that our understanding of the city cannot be viewed independently of cinematic experience. Films do not only capture the depiction of a society; they influence the way we construct images of the world and, as a result, how we operate within it. We are beginning to blur the distinction between what is real in the everyday, and how we imagine the everyday. Cinematic Urbanism explores this dynamic, bringing together insights from urban and film studies to illuminate current architectural debate. . 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 Of 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 It's A Wonderful Life (1946). Using Metropolis (1927) And Brazil (1985), He Shows How Utopian Ideals Harbour Within Them Their Dystopian Realities, While Jacques Tati's Nostalgia For Tradition In Mon Oncle (1958) And Playtime (1967) Reveals A Cynical Modernity And A Rebelling Against Its Idealism. Introduction: The Cinematic City And The Quest For The Modern -- Industrial Modernity : The Flâneur And The Tramp In The Early Twentieth Century City -- Urbanizing Modernity : The Traditional Cinematic Small Town -- Orwellian Modernity : Utopia/dystopia And The City Of The Future Past -- Cynical Modernity, Or The Modernity Of Cynicism -- From Postmodern Condition To Cinematic City -- Voyeuristic Modernity : The Lens, The Screen And The City -- The Modernity Of The Sophisticate And The Misfit : The City Through Different Eyes -- An Alternative Modernity : Race, Ethnicity And The Urban Experience -- Exurban Postmodernity : Utopia, Simulacra And Hyper-reality. Nezar Alsayyad. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [247]-248) And Index. 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 Exploring the relationship between cities and their cinematic portrayals in over a century of film, this book shows how notions of society inform and are influenced by the images we have come to know on screen.