About
Throughout the decades New York has served as an urban backdrop for countless productions. Statistically, New York City is home to the most filmed locations and often takes on the role of a character, serving as more than a background for what is being depicted on screen. Cinema has the ability to produce multiple versions of a single city, as different narratives, techniques of filming, genres, and directors will each produce a different cinematic urban reality. Through the lens of many filmmakers, countless versions of New York City have been created and many historic moments in the cinematic landscape have come to fruition. Perhaps New York can be seen as an embodiment of the versatility of cinema, a place so vast and unique that every filmmaker can make it part of their universe. However, to create and be able to transcend a feeling and imagery of an urban setting, a filmmaker has to make distinctive decisions in the application of film forms and techniques. Within film, elements such as narration, cinematography, and mise-en-scène all play an important role in how a cinematic production turns out and how the urban environment is represented. How these elements and techniques are applied differs depending on the filmmaker and the projection of their vision. Filmmakers often have a distinct style, conveyed through cinematic elements and expressed over the scope of their work. With that, the style of a filmmaker can greatly impact how a setting is portrayed on screen.
Abel Ferrara is a New York filmmaker in heart and soul. Born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent and influenced by the likes of Pasolini and Fassbinder, Ferrara started directing his first feature film in 1975, a pornographic film titled 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy, which was released the following year and set the trajectory for the often-provocative content of his films. Over the years, Ferrara has built up an impressive filmography, spanning several decades, and frequently taking place in New York; featured as a gritty urban setting, augmented by neo-noir imagery and a protagonist who traverses the city streets while coming in contact with a variety of societal problems in urban life. In exploring the representation of New York City through the eyes of Ferrara, the main goal of this research is to uncover how New York is depicted through the confluence and utilization of the narration, cinematography, and mise-en-scène in Ms .45, King of New York, and Bad Lieutenant; ultimately arguing that Ferrara’s use of New York as a filmic topography far extends the simple pragmatic use of an urban setting for stylistic and aesthetic purposes, as it aims to reflect an unfiltered and exemplified version of the underbelly of New York.