The Mythology of Place
Since moving to New York, I’ve been struck by how much energy the people of this city invest in maintaining the image and allure of NYC. It seems like every other issue of New York magazine and Time Out New York feature the best this-or-that of NY, reasons to love NY, etc etc. In December, the city hung charming strings of lights over East Village side streets — this felt like choreography, a way of accentuating how charming NY can be in winter…a way of telling the story of the city back to itself.
He loves NY.
The old mythology of New York as a place to reinvent yourself, a place where anything is possible, is alive and well. The popular Jay-Z/Alicia Keys song, “Empire State of Mind,” is just a recent articulation of the story:
New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let’s hear it for New York, New York,
New York…
When I lived in DC, I often argued that DC’s thriving creative community was part of the city’s reality, but would never be part of its image, or story — unless someone hatched a really savvy PR campaign to sell a new image of the city not only to outsiders, but to its own citizens. And even then, I’m not sure that the image of a place, once firmly established, can really be overhauled, the way a publicist might reinvent a celebrity, for example, or a politician might dramatically alter the public’s perception of a social issue. People see DC as a dull, government town; that is the city’s mythology, and I’m not sure it’s mutable.
As a wise person (whose name I can’t, unfortunately, seem to track down) once said, “We are not who we think we are. We are not who others think we are. We are who we think others think we are.” I believe this is true not just for people, but also for places: We don’t experience the places we live in a raw, unfiltered way. Our perception of place is influenced by how we think others see it. And our clues about how others see a place range from obvious – like “Empire State of Mind” – to subtle: the jokes people make, the tone and focus of local media, how travelogues about a place are written…and on and on.
So, I want to know: What’s the mythology of where you live? What do you believe about that place? Do others who live there (including media) re-affirm those beliefs for you? Or do you think my thesis is a bunch of hooey? Be honest… I can take it ;)
Image above by San Diego Shooter on Flickr
As you know, I actively have an allergic reaction to this phenomenon (possibly as a much of my life upstater with that set of hangups about NYC.)
Postulate – NYC residents invest so much in maintaining the city’s image because they’ve outsourced their own responsibility for being cool and interesting onto their city – it serves the same branding function for them that many people elsewhere get out of their car.
I’m struggling to think what the story was that upstate NY told to itself. The best I could come up with was a sort of “defiantly proud hick” thing but that maps poorly onto the actually hugely educated and generally well-off people I know from where I’m from. I think of myself as a function of my upbringing and experiences, sure, and am happy about all of those things, but the people I knew from, say high school, still identify themselves as “punks” or “engineers” or “hicks” or “the one gay dude” rather than “I’m from X, so you know I’m Y.”
I mean, folks, we’re talking about marginally different parts of the trivially air-traveled, internet-connected, richest country in the world. You’re not a Magyar, you know. You hit a point here – in your G8-type countries, more and more, geography’s devolved into marketing.
….you must have already looked into why and how they did the I heart NY marketing campaign? Not a spontaneous happening, that logo. NYC has a huge and very savvy marketing department advancing their brand *just in the abstract* and recruiting their own citizens, as opposed to the majority of other places that only do more conventional economic development.
WOV, you make a really interesting point about the disappearance of regional differences. I think it’s that lack of actual tribes that increasingly causes us to look to our location for a sense of belonging that you can only get in some ways from a limited group. When all of us belong to the same tribe, we all belong to no tribe, and that can leave us feeling pretty ungrounded.
New York in particular manufactures its own tribal pride, customs, etc. – I love the idea that people here “outsource their responsibility” to be interesting people and put that job on their town. Having lived here a little while, I now know that people here outsource other things (e.g. the responsibility to act like a grown-up in a shared living environment such as an apartment building) with a shrug and the phrase “that’s New York.” That’s not New York, just as being boring isn’t Washington, and being dumb has nothing to do with the South. Your place can be a crutch just as much as it can be a part of you.
And that’s interesting about the “I heart NY” thing – it makes perfect sense that the city started that. Off-topic, but my favorite signs I’ve been seeing around town lately use that font and read “I can’t afford to heart NY.”
Such interesting comments, still processing my thoughts… in the meantime, I just came across this quote, which I had to share:
“New York is, at its best, a projection of Andy Warhol’s fantasies of New York from his bedroom in Pittsburgh. It’s a city with a rich history at odds with the fantasies of those who finally arrive after dreaming of living there. LA is the same way, like that wonderfully titled documentary ‘LA Plays Itself.’”
It comes from this blog post:
http://tomorrowmuseum.com/2010/01/21/accidental-storytelling/
I’ve long thought this about New York but haven’t been able to express it. The only image I have is some sort of spiral, or string theory’s 13-odd dimensions all twisted in upon themselves–the city is so self-referential and so…well, this is where my articulateness breaks down and I have to just point back at your post. Thanks.
Amanda,
First of all I LOVE the new look of the site. FABULOUS! I think New York is Neverland. It’s this wonderful microcosm / macrocosm where truly your dreams of childhood are all possible. It’s a very hopeful place. I’m biased of course because this is my home and New York and I have had a love affair now for over a decade. I’ve never found any otehr place like it.