MANHATTAN - CENTRAL PARK
Eirini Laiaki
Central Park constitutes the most well-known urban park in New York City, located between the Upper West and Upper East sides of Manhattan. It starts from 59th Street and finishes at 110th Street, making it the fifth largest park in New York. Being at the center of Manhattan, it integrates a part of nature amidst the clangorous and busy city life. Besides, the original purpose of its construction was for it to become a space where people could decompress from the fast- tempo- everyday routines.
As far as its on-screen depiction is concerned, it is primarily connected with idyllic landscapes, immense nature in the center of a radiant and fast-paced city,family pick-nics and of course romantic encounters. Numerous films and shows such as When Harry Met Sally (1989), Home Alone (1992), Serendipity (2001), portray the urban park as this oasis, where people relax, stroll, fall in love, and enjoy.
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Birds eye view of Central Park, NY
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Central Park scene in "Serendipity"
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Central Park scene in "Home Alone"
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However, in the 1980’s, Central Park has been an urban space where criminality and discrimination prevailed with the crack epidemic in New York accentuating the existed violence and prejudice against minority groups. Budget cuts caused the neglect of the park which resulted in the increase of criminal behavior. Graffities and signs of decay were the main features of the park.
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The Lake
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Greywacke Arch
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"When They See Us" Trailer on Netflix
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The mini-series is based on a true story - known as the Central Park five- about a group of five teenage black and latino boys who are falsely accused of the rape of Trisha Meili, a white, middle-class woman, jogging during the night at Central Park. To be more specific, in the first episode the group of youths, unknown to one another before the case, gets arrested for being involved in violent attacks in the park. At the same time, the young woman is found unconscious by some “beaners” (8:34) as a police officer regards, and the prosecutor in charge - a white, upper-middle class, and, most importantly, biased towards minorities- immediately associates the case with the boys in the park.
The Netflix mini-series When They See Us (2019) centers around Central Park and showcases a totally dissimilar image of the renowned urban space, with violence and segregation being its major features.
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The Central Park Five with the actors
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Harlem neighbourhood as portrayed in the series
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Focusing on the first episode, the viewer experiences, and even gets puzzled, by the constant references to locations or the numerous changes in the scenery. From the very beginning, the youths are depicted strolling in the streets of Harlem, as if they are flaneurs, sketching the African-American neighborhoods which are characterized by their miscellaneous street art, colors, music, but also the poverty and dereliction.
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Map of Central Park
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As the episode unfolds, there are various locations within Central Park that are introduced. This incorporation of realistic elements such as addresses, concrete locations, adds to the understanding of how immense the park is and also disregards this vastness, by rendering the places so close to one another. The array of spaces that are mentioned in this scene, entail a proximity which is juxtaposed by the very nature of the park, and have a determining role for the boy’s identities.
Scene from the series "When They See Us"
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The North Woods and the North Meadow are spaces of the urban park that are linked to the northern part of Manhattan, meaning Upper West side and Harlem. It is surrounded by a rich forest, called the Ravine, and two other features, the Pool and the Loch. In the 1980’s the space was characterized by its decay, as can be seen in the picture.In 1990, after the rape of the female jogger hich took place in that place, the specific location of the park was revitalized and restored into a wonderful scenery and a field that enables many activities. As it is also depicted in the series, the victim is found “buried’ into the woods completely deserted. The setting is very dark, with little to know lighting, full of bricks, trees and an atmosphere of deterioration.
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East Meadow
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Central Park today
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The stone walls that exist circumferentially of Central Park, is another interesting remark. The vertical walls function as a border from which pedestrians can still view inside and outside of the park accordingly. There are also eighteen entrances that connect to the bounding walls.
These stony fences are apparent in the first episode of the series where the young boys are trying to surpass them so as to escape from the police. But the feeling that is created, along with the prejudice towards African- Americans during that period, is one of seclusion and discrimanation.
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The stonewalls surrounding Central Park
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Scene from the series "When They See Us"
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Scene from the series "When They See Us"
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This popular urban park can be viewed as a heterotopia where both violence and beauty can co-exist. It is embraced with different dynamics and tensions, making it a diverse space where thousands of tourists from all over the world seek to visit, discovering a new side of it. However, even in most beautiful and breath-taking places, there is always another side, one that is dimmer and more unpleasant, including Central Park.
Selected online sources and bibliography
Alvaro Sevilla-Buitrago (2014) Central Park against the streets: the enclosure of public space cultures in mid-nineteenth century New York, Social & Cultural Geography, 15:2,151-171, DOI: 10.1080/14649365.2013.870594
Combs, Barbara Harris. “Everyday Racism Is Still Racism: The Role of Place in Theorizing Continuing Racism in Modern US Society.” Phylon (1960-), vol. 55, no. 1 & 2, Clark Atlanta University, 2018, pp. 38–59, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26545018.
Garcia, Maria. Cinéaste, vol. 38, no. 1, Cineaste Publishers, Inc., 2012, pp. 53–55, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43500998.
McNeur, Lorna. “CENTRAL PARK CITY.” AA Files, no. 23, Architectural Association School of Architecture, 1992, pp. 65–74, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29543783.