Sex and the city in decline: Midnight Cowboy (1969) and Klute (1971).
This essay looks at two popular and influential films of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which were both shot in New York City: Midnight Cowboy (1969) and Klute (1971). It places them in film history, New York City history, and U.S. urban history more generally, finding that they offer an update on earlier century narratives of the connections between urban areas and deviant sexuality. In this modern version, it is not just a moral tale but also an economic one, where, because of the historical decline of the U.S. city and of New York in particular, sex work becomes a plausible, if unsettling means of support. These films find both narrative and spatial terms for advancing the contemporary antiurban narrative, envisioning New York as an impinging vertical space and seeing possible redemption only in the protagonists leaving the city.
Corkin
Stanley
S
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.
D002947:Cities / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005843:Geography / Q000193:education / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D009040:Motion Pictures / Q000266:history; D033262:Narration / Q000266:history; D009519:New York City / Q000208:ethnology; D019529:Sexuality / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history; D012922:Social Change / Q000266:history; D012940:Social Problems / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D012941:Social Responsibility; D014504:Urban Health / Q000266:history; D014505:Urban Population / Q000266:history