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Friday March 6th '98 Politeness Laws for New Yorkers
The latest controversy in New York City is about Mayor Guiliani's "civility campaign". New Yorkers are going to have to start being polite. Existing laws will be enforced and new ones enacted to try to ensure that New Yorkers behave in a civil manner. The Mayor has been at some pains to point out however, that he isn't asking New Yorkers to be nice, they just have to be polite. As Dan Barry commented (New York Times March 1), "Perhaps there is need for pause when a big-city mayor's call for basic civility becomes national news. Then again, the city is New York, where anyone who smiles is regarded as mentally unbalanced." Rudolph Guiliani is the same man who suggested once that New York City's motto should be "We can kick your city's ass". I think that was before he was elected mayor. He's the mayor who had Yasser Arafat kicked out of a concert, and who, in a story headlined "Da Quality of Life", (New Yorker Match 9) Louis Menand describes as "a walking embodiment of the term 'in your face'". I just can't imagine how it will be here. A few weeks ago the Mayor started an anti-j-walking campaign and now he's cutting down on a host of other traffic offenses and impolite behaviours. New York journalists and commentators have been outraged. Dan Barry (The Times) said that Guiliani is acting like "a short-tempered father, glaring at the seven million New Yorkers in the back of his stationwagon." Maureen Dowd (New York Times March 1) wrote that asking New Yorkers to be nice is like asking pigs to fly. The New York Times (Feb. 25th) reported that when the Mayor was asked whether the new civility would apply to himself, replied that his was "an honest response", and that he added "It's not disrespectful if, in fact it is a silly question". I can't work out the meaning of the mayor's answer, but it is hardly polite! He is also reported as saying, "New York will always be a somewhat more sarcastic and humorous city". I suppose so. Any city where panhandlers can be seen with weird signs such as the one spotted the other day - asking for money for penis reduction operations - cannot be taken seriously. American for Advertising
In Australia cigarette advertising is banned, but it is still an OK thing here in New York. Even though there are hardly any restaurants left when you can have a cigarette, and even though most humble diners are non-smoking, there are plenty of magazine ads, complete with the Surgeon General's warning. And there are some pretty weird ads around. Some, advertising "slim" cigarettes claim "It's a woman thing". Others contain curious cut-outs, like children's birthday cards and take several pages of weekly entertainment magazines. But I was particularly struck by this one. (It actually takes up two pages, and I've superimposed the text). I'm not sure of the point, as it would seem that the ad is implying that you don't always get what is advertised. Certainly true about cigarettes, but I would not have thought that a cigarette company would try to labour that point. There are ads about everything, everywhere here. Even on apples. So much so that on the front page of the New York Times (Feb. 25th) sharing space with headlines on "Iraq's Deadliest Arms" and "Be Polite or Else, [Mayor] Guiliani warns in Announcing Civility Campaign", there's a story entitled "Fruit to Walls to Floor. Ads Are one the March". Apples and bananas are described as being "morphed" into film advertisements. Journalist Carol Marie cropper asks the question, "So why do companies want to put ads in America's face?" And supplies an answer ... "to try to get their pitch heard above the rising din of ... advertising." Weighing in at the Altar
Last Sunday's New York Times had a feature article on a new trend in wedding preparation. Nowadays "personal trainers" help the bride-to-be ensure that she's has attained her personal best for her wedding day. The personal trainer even helps in selecting a wedding dress. The Times reports that the average cost of a wedding dress in America is $800. If that's the American average, it would be a lot higher in Manhattan. Couture designed dresses can be anywhere between $2,500 and $9,000. Putting this together with the personal trainer costs (say $200 per week for three sessions, with three months preparation for the wedding day), this would set you back around another $2,500. A lot of studies seem to have gone into analysing the American ideal of beauty. Apparently it is an unsubtle thing. A wedding dress designer, Ursula Hegewisch is quoted as saying that beauty in America has narrowed to an obsession with sexiness. And it's an obvious and blatant idea of sexiness, having nothing to do with natural grace, allure or movement. "What's sexy is no longer how a woman talks or moves. In Japan, a slight inclination of the head is considered alluring. Here, it's much more objectified - we focus on the belly, the bust, the thighs". So much for the idea of the blushing bride. And with the trend here towards revealing and transparent bridal gowns, the mind boggles at the thought of what American brides will be wearing in the next decade.  Your Questions and CommentsYasemin emailed: I'm 14 years old and I saw that you said if we'd like to know anything about NY to ask you. I'd like to knows if Simon Gallaher's updated version of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates Of Penzance" has opened on Broadway yet. I'm not sure but they may have Roger Daltrey as the pirate king and Anthony Newman as the major general. If you know anything at all about this production, could you please tell me?I looked it up in the newspaper and can see no mention of it. I also checked out www.playbill.com, which lists just about everything in the theatre world in the US (as well as information on overseas productions), and there's nothing about it there, either. I'll keep my eye out and if anything is advertised I'll email you. Or maybe some reader who is a Gilbert and Sullivan fan will see this and let me know. |