The future of New York has been portrayed many ways in movies, TV and books — and it often looks pretty miserable.
Why does a city of 8.5 million with a thriving cultural scene, full of institutions of finance, media and fashion, and filled with instantly recognizable landmarks always seem to end up in such a mess?
New York holds an outsize place in the global imagination. “New York is not a capital city,” E.B. White wrote in his 1949 essay “Here Is New York.” “But it is by way of becoming the capital of the world.”
If you’re a writer or filmmaker hoping to create a hell on earth, why not start with the capital of the world?
Though there are examples of other cities in serious futuristic distress — London in “Children of Men” (2006), for example, or Los Angeles in Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower” (1993) — few cities have suffered as many terrible fictional fates as New York. (Los Angeles actually receives an upgrade in the 2013 Spike Jonze movie “Her,” with its robust transit system and sleek architecture.)
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