MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-03-19 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Bridge and Tunnel People
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The New Yorker's Manhattan Prejudice
2005_03_nyercovers.jpgThere's nothing like a mean New Yorker cover to
get Brooklyn intellectuals into a huff. Two weeks ago, the cover of the
New Yorker featured God's hand banishing Adam and Eve across the
Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn, in an illustration by Marcellus Hall
called "Unaffordable Eden." The Daily News spoke to some enraged
Brooklynites, who think the idea of Brooklyn being a second-class
borough is outdated, scoffing at Manhattan denizens who think Manhattan
is "the entire city," and realtors, who say Manhattanites who move to
Brooklyn feel "clever." And, yes, Brooklyn BEEP Marty Markowitz wrote a
letter, saying:
I am concerned, however that my copy of the issue may have been
missing a second panel, in which the couple realise that what
awaits them on the other side of the bridge is not a dark cloud
of doom but the promised land itself. High rents might push some
residents out of Manhattan, but we Brooklynites welcome these
emigres with open arms to our better quality of life, our
unrivalled diversity and maybe even a nice brownstone...What
better than the hand of God to direct you toward the most divine
bagels and lox?
For his part, illustrator Hall told the DN, "Manhattan is still one step
up from Brooklyn in terms of where it's at," adding that he loves
Brooklyn but the "idea for me was just to depict Manhattan as a
paradise." Gothamist found it funny that the DN called the cover
controversial, but it's no Hasid kissing African Amercian woman from Art
Spiegelman or Saul Steinberg's View of the World. And while the New
Yorker definitely epitomizes a certain mindset and attitude, the New
Yorker's cartoons and illustrations aren't necessarily the greatest
representations of what New York really is.
Anyway, Bay Ridge resident, Helen Lilkakas, said, "Brooklyn's great. I
don't think Adam and Eve would be banished to Brooklyn. Maybe Queens,
but not Brooklyn." Oh, Queens, did you hear that? It's on! And Gothamist
on the Complete Book of New Yorker Cartoons.
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