MovieChat Forums > Manhattan (1979) Discussion > Do artsy New York people speak like this...

Do artsy New York people speak like this?

posted 10 years ago by Schlacker
19 replies | jump to latest

I'm a foreigner so i have no clue how people in New York speak, let alone the artsy more cultured ones. I've noticed every time these characters speak, they always name drop someone from either literature or something. "Bla..bla...blaa....Kafka." "Bla..blaa..blaa...Hitler."

While I loved this film, I was just wondering this. It seems that most conversatins includes name dropping. Thanks a lot.

"You built a time machine....out of a DeLorean?"

[–] nocomputer1962 10 years ago

I'm from the the Midwest, but I have a hard time believing that any group of friends talk like this in real life. In fact, I think the name-dropping is Woody's way of ingratiating himself with the critical elite. (And there is an unusually high amount of name-dropping in this film. I counted 55 names dropped in 96 minutes; and at least two scenes that consist entirely of characters rattling off lists of names.)

While I love Manhattan for its cinematography and music, I also think this is one of Woody's most pandering attempts to win approval from the intelligentsia. Luckily, Woody would really begin to hit his stride in the 1980s, earning the acclaim of critics without resorting to cheap tricks to win their approval.

[–] richard-III 9 years ago

You're joking, right?
With these dialogues Woody is making fun of the intellectuals that roam New York City. He shows their namedropping as empty talk, and even admits he does it himself. So he's poking fun at himself and other intellectuals.

-I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film.-

[–] kmags84 9 years ago

It's amazing on how many folks miss this, even though the goddamn opening monologue is literally EXACTLY That.

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 9 years ago

What I find funny is that while his character dislikes Diane Keaton's character for being too cerebral, he himself likes artsy stuff like Bergman movies and symphonies and all the rest of it. The character is an intellectual trying hard not to show himself as one or something like that. I'm not an intellectual so I wouldn't know.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] nimstic 8 years ago

Such a loose, vague response. Who really is an intellectual? and who is "artsy"? Someone who likes Bergman? Seriously.

Bergman is a genuinely wonderful director. Symphonies are admired and liked by music lovers for centuries!!

I feel many posters here are far more pretentious than any character shown in Manhattan. IMO, Diane's character is very pretentious and its meant to be funny. Woody's character too was that, and many other bad stuff which keeps making fun of. This self-depreciating commentary is often the hallmark of his style.

I find the argument he was trying to win the intellect's attention with this film quite hard to believe. If you had said that about P.T. Anderson when he made Magnolia, yes. Definitely, not Manhattan. Its very similar to Annie Hall.

What would you call Scorsese's attempt with Taxi Driver, then? Remember the long, silent shots of the dark Manhattan/NY streets with jazz background... Would that be his desperate call for attention from the intellects?

I'm quite convinced. What Taxi Driver was for Scorsese, was exactly what Manhattan for Woody.

[–] nocomputer1962 8 years ago

But unlike his earlier films, I no longer get the feeling that Woody is satirizing these people. His character here seems to really enjoy the company of pretentious intellectuals, (more than I would, at least) and, as you concede, even takes part in much of their name-dropping and navel-gazing. The only character he challenges for the most part is Mary, who is almost impossibly flaky and self-absorbed. If this is a satire, it's a pretty subtle one, maybe too subtle to be understood by the people being satirized.

[–] ElphieDefyingGravity 8 years ago

Manhattan is widely considered one of Allen's best films. He "hit his stride" in the mid 80s? What films are you referring to?

Oh what a falling off was there.

[–] nocomputer1962 8 years ago

The same people who consider Manhattan one of his best films will also tell you that he hit his peak in the mid-1980s, with the consecutive annual releases of The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Radio Days. He finished the 1980s with his greatest film, Crimes and Misdemeanors. In retrospect, Manhattan just seems like a warm-up for the creative output that was to come in the following decade.

[–] ElphieDefyingGravity 8 years ago

I've always felt "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" were his best films. "Interiors" as well. "The Purple Rose..." was a total miss for me.

Hannah and her Sisters and Radio Days were both good movies, but in my opinion didn't touch those I mentioned.

Over the years his films have lost their charm for me. I guess Husbands and Wives and Midnight in Paris were my favorites of the later Allen years.

I do think he's quite pervy though. Creepy.

Oh what a falling off was there.

[–] nocomputer1962 8 years ago

I think it must be hard for a comic filmmaker to keep his edge as they approach their sixties. Allen, Wilder, and Chaplin all started to jump the shark in their mid-50s, although even their worst films are still worth a look.

[–] Schlacker 10 years ago

Thanks for your reply. I'm Indonesian and although I'd noticed Woody using dialog like this in his recent films also but this film takes the cake. So many references in their conversations. Almost naturally. Hence my question. It makes me feel so culturally inferior cause i only know half if those names lol. Liked the film tho.

[–] shelemm 10 years ago

Some people do talk about things like literature, philosphy, and art. I do.

However, this movie is very presentational as opposed to representational. Representational means that you are trying to accurately represent life. Presentational means that you are givng an artistic presentation. This is a very important distinttion in all art. From the time they open their mouths in Manhattan, the writer is trying to make a point rather than mirror real life.

[–] el-9984 10 years ago

Your comment is very derivative. To me it looks like it was straight out of David Bordwell, but it had none of the wit.

[–] tafnola 9 years ago

I love this reply.

[–] InherentlyYours 10 years ago

Similar to Boston

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Clemencedane 9 years ago

The majority do not, but there still some of those types here now.

[–] Mr_Ectoplasma 8 years ago

Pretentious people in general speak like this. It's not specific to New York, but it's certainly present there.

[–] fede_4488 8 years ago

Being well spoken and educated is not hip. Being ignorant is cool. This is the generation that made the word hipster trendy, ironically, after all.

If I don't reply, you're probably on my ignore list for something I forgot already