disaster movies and new york

[Simon Brooke]

i have been wanting to ask this question for a long time now,

why new york?

how many people on the forum live in new york have seen movies like "the day after tomorrow" and said that is where i work or live

i think off the top of my head i can think of at least 10 movies that have something bad happening to new york.

 

[Sean Campbell]

Probably because New York is one of the world's three most famous cities ( the others being Paris and London )and it has plenty of recognisable landmarks that can be destroyed.
That said, after the real life horror of 9/11, the image of crumbling skyscrapers no longer has the entertainment value it once did.

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

9/11 is an important point, and I think we're going to see even more of New York getting destroyed in movies because that terrible day happened. Just look at Japan: they got nuked in WWII and Tokyo seems to get destroyed in pretty much every other science fiction story to come out of Japan, from Godzilla to Akira.

 

[Yee-Ming]

I'd say precisely because it is iconic. What's the point of destroying, say, Pittsburgh? (No disrespect intended to Pittsburgh-ians...)

Also, as noted, lots of recognisable, and to repeat myself, iconic, buildings (sadly now less two). Which is why destroying LA doesn't have quite the same effect. Even London and Paris wouldn't have quite the same effect, their icons aren't quite as big and tall, but tend to be historic monuments, e.g. for London, Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and Houses of Westminster, but that's about it, and Paris would be the Eiffel Tower and maybe Notre Dame. None of these are quite as imposing as the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings.

Perhaps the other city getting blown up that has a similar effect (US-wise) might be Washington DC, but that again is limited to two specific buildings (White House and Capitol), one of which was specifically blown up in ID4.

 

[DougFND]

Didn't both buildings get it in ID4?

 

[Ernest Rister]

Technically, "everything" in Washington D.C. got it in ID4.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

But they did show both the buildings in question explode. The White House originated it, and the Capitol was part of the expanding wave...

 

[Michael Reuben]

Not so much The Day After Tomorrow, but I did work in the building that the gremlins take over in Gremlins 2. I think they would have done a better job managing it.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's another city in the world that has so many tall buildings crammed together in such a small space. That's what makes the Manhattan skyline instantly recognizable from many different angles, even after 9/11.

M.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Sorry, I was thinking of that specific shot where the "laser beam" comes right down and "bullseyes" the White House.


I vaguely remember some trivia to this effect, so you are probably right. London has relatively few skyscrapers -- Canary Wharf is IIRC the tallest building in London, which isn't saying much at around 44 stories? -- although that is changing now but it'll take time. And in the future, maybe some of the Asian metropolises will catch up. But for now, NTC is "the city of cities".