Publication Date

Spring 1999

Degree Type

Master's Project

Degree Name

Master of Urban Planning (MUP)

Department

Urban and Regional Planning

Abstract

This report is divided into two distinct sections. The first is the study and analysis of the role of cities in a variety of films released throughout this century. The films I have chosen for study do not merely take place in a city or provide a few passing glances of a city. The films in this report do not use the city merely as a backdrop. These films present the city as a main character. These films show the city setting the theme and tone of a story. These films show how a city can affect and change a person's life. I have divided the first part of this report into four chapters. The first deals with the theme of the city as an escape from suburbia, with Chicago as the city selected for study. Here, the city is reflected as a place to escape and seek fun and excitement - a stark contrast from the sameness and dullness of suburbia. But, as the reader will see, Chicago brings fun and excitement to some, and fear and horror to others.

This is not a report on film criticism. This report does not exist to grant a thumbs-up or down to the films selected for analysis in the tradition of Siskel and Ebert. I am not a film critic, though I do have my favorites and those I strongly recommend to others, as do most people. The films I have selected for study provide examples on the impressions of the city as seen through film. I do not recommend all these films as entertainment, nor do I dwell on the actors and their performances. That a film like Metropolis can exist in the same chapter as Batman is purely a reflection of the role of the cities in both films as an expression of style. Because of the limitations of space and time, I have left out many films that the casual reader of this report would probably deem noteworthy of study as well. Indeed. There are probably hundreds of good or great films that take place in a city or contain the word city in their title. There are a lot fewer that provide the city itself as their main character.

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