Burglered Boston
Skipping ahead to the 1970s we encounter the city of Boston in the crime thriller The Friends of Eddie Coyle. The movie is the story of a low-level gangster dealing with past decisions. The movie quite accurately portrays the crime world of Boston. In many of the scenes taking place in public areas the characters are seen having friendly/ business conversation, but the shady transactions are reserved for locations away from the public eye. In many interactions, this creates a sense of duality between the public realm of Boston and the crime world of the characters; characters we know to have shady pasts walk amongst crowds of strangers. However, according to the definition provided by Sennett, this would be the reality of any public realm. Recall “a place where strangers meet” implies a lack of mutual knowledge between people’s selves. These connections forming a crime world are no different from the connections forming another business organization, but the subjective taint of crime is placed on this certain network. While data definitely shows a sharp increase in crime for Boston during this period, this subjective portrayal of Boston could very easily self-reinforce the culture. Media representations of a location shape our perception of its public realm. Yet, the camera focused on portraying the crime world is just out of focus of the rest of Boston.
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Harvard University founded alongside Boston has very much shaped the public realm of Boston. The various elite schools that have stemmed in Boston as a result of Harvard’s proximity have kept the city at the forefront in many fields. This influence was not lost on the era depicted in the Friends of Eddie Coyle even if it was absent from the film. The year following the movie’s release, 1974, the Boston judicial system made the progressive decision to desegregate schools through redirecting bussing routes. While the crime lifestyles were a portion of the Boston of the 70s, the subjectivity of the film places it as the center of everything “Boston.”
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Unlike the previous films, The Friends of Eddie Coyle attempts to create a public realm by defining the strangers rather than filming the structures and major activities of the city. This works quite well for Yates because it allows for the viewer to design any public realm fitting the actions of the characters. However, this creates a public realm that is devoid of any location attribution – the story of Eddie Coyle could have happened anywhere. The locality is preserved through audio reinforcement (accents) and visual reinforcement (the MTBA).
Harvard University founded alongside Boston has very much shaped the public realm of Boston. The various elite schools that have stemmed in Boston as a result of Harvard’s proximity have kept the city at the forefront in many fields. This influence was not lost on the era depicted in the Friends of Eddie Coyle even if it was absent from the film. The year following the movie’s release, 1974, the Boston judicial system made the progressive decision to desegregate schools through redirecting bussing routes. While the crime lifestyles were a portion of the Boston of the 70s, the subjectivity of the film places it as the center of everything “Boston.”
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Unlike the previous films, The Friends of Eddie Coyle attempts to create a public realm by defining the strangers rather than filming the structures and major activities of the city. This works quite well for Yates because it allows for the viewer to design any public realm fitting the actions of the characters. However, this creates a public realm that is devoid of any location attribution – the story of Eddie Coyle could have happened anywhere. The locality is preserved through audio reinforcement (accents) and visual reinforcement (the MTBA).
