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The New Yorker's Manhattan Prejudice
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 18, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 18, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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There's nothing like a mean New Yorker cover to get Brooklyn intellectuals into a huff. Two weeks ago, the cover of the New Yorker featured God's hand banishing Adam and Eve across the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn, in an illustration by Marcellus Hall called "Unaffordable Eden." The Daily News spoke to some enraged Brooklynites, who think the idea of Brooklyn being a second-class borough is outdated, scoffing at Manhattan denizens who think Manhattan is "the entire city," and realtors, who say Manhattanites who move to Brooklyn feel "clever." And, yes, Brooklyn BEEP Marty Markowitz wrote a letter, saying:
I am concerned, however that my copy of the issue may have been missing a second panel, in which the couple realise that what awaits them on the other side of the bridge is not a dark cloud of doom but the promised land itself. High rents might push some residents out of Manhattan, but we Brooklynites welcome these emigres with open arms to our better quality of life, our unrivalled diversity and maybe even a nice brownstone...What better than the hand of God to direct you toward the most divine bagels and lox?
For his part, illustrator Hall told the DN, "Manhattan is still one step up from Brooklyn in terms of where it's at," adding that he loves Brooklyn but the "idea for me was just to depict Manhattan as a paradise." Gothamist found it funny that the DN called the cover controversial, but it's no Hasid kissing African Amercian woman from Art Spiegelman or Saul Steinberg's View of the World. And while the New Yorker definitely epitomizes a certain mindset and attitude, the New Yorker's cartoons and illustrations aren't necessarily the greatest representations of what New York really is.
Anyway, Bay Ridge resident, Helen Lilkakas, said, "Brooklyn's great. I don't think Adam and Eve would be banished to Brooklyn. Maybe Queens, but not Brooklyn." Oh, Queens, did you hear that? It's on! And Gothamist on the Complete Book of New Yorker Cartoons.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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