Destroying New York Again and Again

Yesterday’s New York Times has a piece on the repeated destruction of NYC in the movies — usually in those of the sci-fi (or at least, broader speculative fiction) genre.  The author, Sewell Chan, offers a great overview of on-screen destructions of my city and asks if it’s a high compliment or tasteless.  After 9/11, I suppose it can be hard to tell.

As a life long resident of New York and a lover of disaster movies, even I’m torn.  On the one hand, I was deeply relieved when post-9/11 we finally started seeing New York destroyed movies again (how many times have I seen the truly wretched The Day After Tomorrow on cable?).  On the other, the trailers for I Am Legend, have repeatedly left me shaking thanks to the image of the destroyed Brooklyn Bridge — somehow, it seems to plausible.

Either way, bring it on!  Cloverfield opens in just a couple of weeks.