Hooray for Hollywood: Cities on Film

Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” (courtesy of Flickr).

Author and social critic Oscar Wilde observed that “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” But when it comes to cities, art (cinema and now video) has imitated life on screens big and small for almost a century. The vision of urban life also reverberates through new cities in Asia and the Middle East.

Was Wilde correct? Does life imitate art more than art imitating life—or do they influence each other? To answer this philosophical question, here are some films you may know (and maybe a few you don’t) that feature urban themes as backdrops, antagonists, obstacles, and even characters.

The Dystopian City

The early silent film “Metropolis” (1927) featured an imposing city where elites lived in super-tall skyscrapers and the working class maintained the infrastructure underground. German director Fritz Lang pioneered the use of science fiction as a means to comment on social issues. His vision of the impersonal and inhumane city influenced generations of film-makers—from Ridley Scott (“Blade Runner,” 1983) to Terry Gilliam (“Brazil,” 1985), to Luc Besson (“The Fifth Element,” 1997), and an episode of Gene Roddenberry’s original “Star Trek.” Even TV’s “The Jetsons” (1962) can trace some of its futuristic elements to “Metropolis.”

Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” (2018) features the bleak future of 2045 Columbus, Ohio—now one of world’s largest and fastest growing cities, with mobile homes stacked high in steel frameworks, over-population, depleted natural resources, and a harsh climate. The only escape is a virtual reality program called the OASIS. Dystopian, indeed!

Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” (courtesy of Flickr).

The Antagonist City

Sometimes just navigating a city can be challenging, nearly impossible, or even laughable. “The Out of Towners” (1970) follows a couple as they encounter every possible obstacle on the way from Boston to New York City for a new job (yes, it’s a comedy). Twenty years later, “Quick Change” (a remake of the 1985 Montreal-based film “Hold Up”) featured three friends led by a burned-out city planner (played by Bill Murray) who rob a bank to get enough money to leave New York, only to have their getaway thwarted at every turn.

If you love movies about eminent domain—and who doesn’t—check out Australia’s “The Castle” (1997), where a proud patriarch fights the local city’s plan to acquire his beloved home for an airport expansion (yes, it’s comedy, and yes, he wins).

In the “Batman” reboots (1989 and 2005), philanthropists Thomas and Martha Wayne believe their crumbling city is worth saving. Their untimely deaths prompt son Bruce to take up the mantle as Gotham City’s savior, it’s Dark Knight. (Tim Burton’s portrayal of a bleak Gotham City won the 1990 Oscar for production design.)

City Planning as a Plot Device

Few would consider “Chinatown” (1974), “Blazing Saddles” (1974), and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” (1988) in the same breath. Yet all three share a common plot-line of developers attempting to manipulate infrastructure (water, rail, and freeways) for personal gain, only to lose in the end. And believe it or not, the plot for “Roger Rabbit” was originally to be the third Chinatown film (minus Toon Town). The trilogy never materialized, the script was re-worked, and “Roger Rabbit” was the result.

The above developers were tame compared to the Omni Consumer Products (OCP) corporation in “RoboCop” (1987), which sought to replace crumbling neighborhoods in future Detroit with gentrified “Delta City.” OCP’s plans are foiled and Detroit lived on. (I.M. Pei’s Dallas City Hall stood in for OCP’s headquarters, converted by special effects into a giant skyscraper.)

The Perfect City

On occasion, films mythologize cities. Based on L. Frank Baum’s children’s books, “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) envisioned Emerald City where the Wizard can solve everyone’s problems. As a reporter, Baum had previously covered the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair—Emerald City was his reinterpretation of the “White City.”

“On the Town” (1949) featured three sailors looking for love while on shore-leave in New York City. “An American in Paris” (1951) was an homage to the City of Lights (and George Gershwin’s score didn’t hurt). “When Harry Met Sally” (1989) used New York as a gauzy backdrop for the title characters as they fell in and out of love.

And while not technically cities (and not real), a direct line can be traced from the paradise of Zamunda in “Coming to America” (1988) to the technological utopia of Wakanda in “Black Panther” (2018).

But sometimes, the “perfect city” is an illusion. “Pleasantville” (1998) featured a sitcom town whose black-and-white veneer rewards conformity, but eventually becomes more authentic (and more colorful). “The Truman Show” (1998) features the all-too-perfect town of Seahaven, which is really an elaborate television reality show (filmed in Seaside, Florida, an early example of New Urbanism). Star Truman Burbank eventually suspects that all is not what it appears and— spoiler alert—in the final sequence, he escapes into the real world.

Any list of “perfect” on-screen cities must also include TV’s “The Andy Griffith Show” (1960-68). Fictional Mayberry was the quintessential small town where doors were unlocked, everybody knew their neighbor, and life moved at a relaxed pace. Fifty years later, many people still want to live in Mayberry.

The List Goes On

Lists inevitably leave off someone’s favorite. “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946), “Logan’s Run” (1976), “Manhattan” (1979), the “Back to the Future” (1985-1990) and “Matrix” trilogies (1999-2003), “Minority Report” (2002), “Valerian” (2017), and “Blade Runner: 2049” (2017) are all potential candidates.

Today when it comes to cities, with all due respect to Oscar Wilde, Life and Art imitate each other. So which one do YOU want to live in?

Joe Pobiner , FAICP, CNU-A, is a regional practice leader of planning and urban design in Gensler’s Dallas office. He specializes in applying responsible planning and urban design principles that have strengthened the physical, natural, economic, and cultural framework of cities across the U.S. and globally. Contact him at joe_pobiner@gensler.com.