Monsters and Modernity

The film world has often used New York City as a stage for disaster. King Kong, Godzilla, endless waves of zombies and the Cloverfield monster have created a certain fictional history for this inevitably doomed city and its occupants. Why then, after all these horrific occurrences do people still insist on living here? Although I have been to NYC several times I feel that, because of its depiction in all these films I grew up with, I still look at New Yorkers and can’t help but be fascinated and intimidated by the people who not only survived these traumatic events, but also have the will to restore their city countless times. After each attack, the city always seems to be able to rebuild itself only to have the next monster arrive and rip it all down again. The history of monsters and zombie plagues may be fictional but I find myself in the middle of a city where the same scale of demolishing and reconstruction has occurred; if it is not Godzilla crushing a historical neighborhood, it most certainly is a committee of urban planners. I am now living on the grid that is New York City and am on the hunt for traces of these historical monsters that have torn the city up allowing for expansion, reconstruction and innovation…for better or for worse.