Give a description of a movie review about the City?
Thesis
The Progressive era that dominated the earlier stages of the 20th Century brought with it many positive and negative factors. It lead to the rise in industrialization and increased immigration to the United States. During this period, United States had a fast growing economy, industrial and agricultural sectors. These are the mouthwatering facts that are always presented to anyone bothering to inquire about the Progressive era. It is expected that a true patriot and nationalist would always depict his country in a positive note while holding their heads high. However, as is the case, any action has an equal and opposing reaction. The negative aspects of the Progressive period are never discussed. We cannot assume that a perfect society just mushroomed from oblivion. There had to be underlying factors and external forces that led to betterment of society during this period. The movie “The City” better depicts the actual situation as it were. The main aim of this paper is therefore to bring to light the actual situation, and discuss the social, economic and political impact of the type of life during the Progressive era. It is hoped that by the end of the paper a proper understanding and correct inferences would be drawn to understand the situation and how it affected the society.
Movie Review
The documentary The City well depicts the industrial revolution in North America in the period between 1900 and 1939. It envisions cities and urban areas which are well planned. The film depicts a lot of urban related problems that our upcoming cities also face in the current century. One of the most outstanding urban problems that the city faces is congestion due to poor planning. From the film, we can see houses are clustered together to an extent that children miss a playing ground. Towards the end of the film, we are given a glimpse of a city, which the producer of the film envisions, that will be well planned and designed, so that people can live the good life – children can have a clean place to play, and mothers can have space to plant groceries and flowers.
Issues Arising
Lewis Mumford has adapted this short documentary film, The City, which produced under the ageis of the American Institute of Planners in 1939. Lewis has written the film towards the end of the depression to illustrate the populist and utopian principles which were being practiced at that time. Lewis, who lived at that time, saw cities as one of the most dehumanizing places to be staying, but Lewis has hope that by embracing technology, the problems which were brought about by the city would become history. Careful scrutiny of the film suggests to us that his ideas had limitations. The new cities Lewis is talking about are what we call suburbanization in the society today. Lewis seems to forget to incorporate racial diversity in the film. The depicted new cities in the film seems to portray and reinforce the issue of gender roles, just the same way as it was in the old city, that is also depicted in the same film.
Intention of the Movie
The film is intended for people in developing countries, who are faced with the challenge of reordering their existing urban cities, to become better places to stay.
Cities and their attendant institutions have been the primary engines of the knowledge creation that islargely responsible for human demographic success. Wealth creation, technology, governance, the arts, science, and many other attributes of modern civilization have theirorigin in the emergence of cities (Ronald C. Baird, Hall, 1998; Florida, 2004).
From Ronald’s arguments above, we can clearly see that the writer of the film had a clear picture of the kind of city he would like to live and work in. In the beginning of the film, he tells us the story of how cities used to look like, during the late eighteenth and early nineteenthcentury in the North America. One aspect that clearly comes out in the film is congestion, buildings are erected in all places, without planning, even the fields left for children to play were grabbed and buildings erected.
Cities have shaped the international social, economic, and political processes. As a result, a lot of people tend to move to cities to look for better paying jobs. Two writers, Armen Ovanessoff and Mark Purdy summarize all this in their journal in the following way:
In the developing world, the total urbanpopulation is expected to more than double between now and 2050 to 5.3 billion. Moreover, the number of cities with one million or more inhabitants is set to rise from 300 in 2005 to 479 in 2025 (See Exhibits 2 and 3.) Estimates suggest that to cope with the influx of urbaninhabitants, the global economy will need $30 to $40 trillion of infrastructure investment overthe next 20 years, resulting in significant new growth opportunities in industries such asconstruction, utilities, transport and border control.(pg. 46).
During the twentieth century, the urban population in the world has in creased more than tenfold (McGranahan and Satterthwaite, 2003).
Connection to Social, Political and Economic Currents
Most of the social, political and economic problems can be tied down to the effects of congestion. How congestion come about and consequently its implication on the social, political and economic current of the cities during the period is important. These are the main issues that are raised in the movie.
Causes
Congestion was caused by the mass influx of people who had migrated to the United States due to its strong and fast growing economy. The economic boom promised better salaries to the individuals employed in the industries. This made community planning a major hurdle to policy makers. When the industries were set up, such a situation was not anticipated, and the city was initially planned to accommodate a moderate amount of people. During the progressive period it is estimated that nearly 30 million people migrated to the Unite States, most of them from Europe. Most migrated due poverty and religious differences. Even after Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and the Gentlemen’s Agreement Act in 1907 to stop Japanese immigration, some immigrants temporarily stayed in the Unite States and later on left, others decided to permanently leave their homelands and remained in America hoping for a better life (and thus was coined the term the American Dream).
Implications
Everyone was after the elusive American Dream. Therefore when they saw the conditions they were living, they cried foul. They needed better than what they were getting. After all, they had worked for the same government that was ‘allowing’ them continue living in poor conditions. They cried fro better community planning to lessen their suffering. The picture of a perfect city -as shown as the movie ends- showed what can be achieved with proper planning. It eventually lead to the construction –experimental- of Greenbelt, Maryland, and Radburn, New Jersey (though privately owned).
The movie showed the effects of not changing the way people live as time goes by. For instance, the people in the movie were living in a modern time. However, the government was still stuck in the agrarian era. It did not move fast and realize the that time had changed and agrarian policies could not work in an industrial era. The movie also shows what part science and technology has to play in the development and enhancement of better lives. Technology should just not be used for profit; science too can help solve social problems.
The social life during this period is demeaning. People lived as though stuck in sacks. I mean there is no room to move. The sewage systems are out of order, crime is the out of hand… clearly the situation of cities during this time can be termed as chaotic. However, this did not have to be the case. Congestion if reduced could have enhanced the social life of individuals, as is depicted; children did not have playing grounds, women neither had gardens to grow groceries. A really pitiful state. But the movie shows swimming pools, fishing, gardening, playgrounds as symbols of what a better planning of a city can do to enhance the social life of a community.
The most important aspect to bring all this change was an overhaul of the political class who mainly corrupt individuals who cared on capitalizing on the woes of the lower class. They never considered uplifting the people to enjoy what industrialization had blessed the nation with. It called for proper labor management to improve living conditions. This lead to ascension to power of great presidents like Theodore Roosevelt.
Conclusion
It is very clear from the movie that, poor policies affect the quality of life of a society. The positive progression of a society depends on the availability of resources and good leadership. Good governance if coordinated well with technological advancement can go a long way into providing lasting solutions for social issues. The economic well being of a country does not mean money in the pocket. It actually needs the appropriate institution creating enough avenues for people to enjoy their money.
Works Cited
City, the (part I) (1939)
Producer: American Documentary Films, Inc.
Sponsor: American Institute of Planners, through Civic Films, Inc.
City, the (part II) (1939)
Producer: American Documentary Films, Inc.
Sponsor: American Institute of Planners, through Civic Films, Inc.
A Journal on Coastal urbanization: The Challenges of Management lag, by Ronald C. Baird.
A Journal on Global competition 2021: Key Capabilities for Emerging Opportunities, by Armen Ovanessoff and Mark Purdy.
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