NY Film & Literature November 17, 2011
Woody Allen's 1977 film,Annie Hall, shows Alvy Singers aspect of the city-- “it is a city of dreams..”. Allen shows a whole new aspect of the city one that Quarts doesn't grasp, “New york has been portrayed on the screen as a traumatized city overwhelmed by drug dealers, prostitutes and street criminals, permeated with garbage-laden streets and graffiti scarred buildings and with a jarring symphony of sirens and alarms constantly playing as an accompaniment in the background. Alvy overlooks the garbage, rats, and abandoned buildings of New York City in the 1970's and tries to make the good out of the situation. Allen shows that Alvy Singer loves New York the way it is “ yeah, I love it there”, “ I'm into garbage. It's my thing”. Allen is sticking up for the city in its good and its bad aspects. Alvy felt that New York had a vintage feel.
Woody Allen has two aspects of New York in his 1977 film, from Alvy's view and Annie’s View. Alvy loves New York City and doesn't want to leave, on the other hand Annie hates it-- “ What's so great about New York? I mean, It's a dying city”. Annie wants to stay in Los Angeles because it is clean and there are not as many crimes as New York. As Alvy says, in New York there is economic crime but in Los Angeles there is a different type of crime--there's ritual, religious cult murders, and wheat- germ killers in Los Angeles. “ Allen's indelible urban images offer consolation and hope for those who believe that the delicate balance between dream and nightmare in New York will be preserved into the next century”. Allen forces the people to look past the garbage and the crime filled streets and look at the beautiful parts, the history of the city. The movie shows the cities classical moments...the cities dreams and Alvy tries to show people to look past the nightmares and dark parts of the city.
New York in the 1970s was appalling, from the dirty, dangerous,destitute streets to the many abandoned buildings. Cities were covered in graffiti, police officers everywhere, in the subways with K-9 German