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New York City Symphonies: Critique and Propagation of Interwar Years Modernity

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New York City Symphonies: Critique and Propagation of Interwar Years Modernity NEW YORK CITY SYMPHONIES: CRITIQUE AND PROPAGATION OF INTERWAR YEARS MODERNITY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY BERKAY HAYIRLI IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE MAY 2021 Approval of the thesis: NEW YORK CITY SYMPHONIES: CRITIQUE AND PROPAGATION OF INTERWAR YEARS MODERNITY submitted by BERKAY HAYIRLI in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History of Architecture, the Graduate School of Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Yaşar KONDAKÇI Dean Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. F. Cânâ BİLSEL Head of Department Department of Architecture Assist. Prof. Dr. Ekin PİNAR Supervisor Department of History of Architecture Examining Committee Members: Assist. Prof. Dr. Pelin YONCACI ARSLAN (Head of the Examining Committee) Middle East Technical University Department of History of Architecture Assist. Prof. Dr. Ekin PİNAR (Supervisor) Middle East Technical University Department of History of Architecture Prof. Dr. Esin BOYACIOĞLU Gazi University Department of Architecture PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name: BERKAY HAYIRLI Signature: iii ABSTRACT NEW YORK CITY SYMPHONIES: CRITIQUE AND PROPAGATION OF INTERWAR YEARS MODERNITY HAYIRLI, Berkay M.A., The Department of History of Architecture Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Ekin PINAR May 2021, 105 pages This thesis aims to write an architectural history of interwar years New York analyzing eleven existing city symphonies. City symphonies are avant-garde documentaries which provide valuable information to understand life in modern urban cities. With its skyscrapers, bustling harbor activities, multilayered transportation network and immense immigration wave, New York bore many problems of urbanization and tried to solve them with innovations. This thesis explores receptions and representations of modernity through city symphonies focusing the specificities of films they reveal. It addresses mechanization of everyday life, American urban economy and its diversity, gender of time and space, privacy and publicity, similarity and diversity. Keywords: Interwar years New York, city symphony, film and architecture, modernity. iv ÖZ NEW YORK ŞEHİR SENFONİLERİ: İKİ SAVAŞ ARASI MODERNİTESİNİN ELEŞTİRİSİ VE PROPAGANDASI HAYIRLI, Berkay Yüksek Lisans, Mimarlık Tarihi Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Assist. Prof. Dr. Ekin PINAR Mayıs 2021, 105 sayfa Bu tez, şehir senfonilerini analiz ederek iki dünya savaşı arasındaki New York’un mimarlık tarihini yazmayı amaçlar. Şehir senfonileri, modern şehirlerdeki yaşama dair değerli bilgiler sunan avangart belgesellerdir. Gökdelenleri, yoğun liman aktiviteleri, çok katmanlı ulaşım ağları ve maruz kaldığı göç dalgasıyla New York şehri, şehirleşmenin birçok sorununu barındırmış ve bunları büyük bir enerji harcayarak çözmeye çalışmıştır. Bu çalışma, şehir senfonilerinde gözlemlenen modernitenin karşılanışını ve temsiliyetini, filmlerin öne çıkardığı özelliklere odaklanarak inceler. Bunu yaparken, günlük hayatın makineleşmesi, Amerikan şehir ekonomisi ve çeşitliliği, zamanın ve mekânın cinsel kimliği, mahremiyet ve kamusallığı, benzerlik ve çeşitliliği irdeler. Anahtar Kelimeler: İki savaş arasında New York, şehir senfonileri, film ve mimarlık, modernite. v DEDICATION To my family and my dear friend, Deniz Gürata vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Assist. Prof. Dr. Ekin Pınar for her precious guidance and endless support. I will always be grateful for her encouragements to pursue my academic passion. This thesis would not be realized without her belief in me. I would like to thank jury members, Assist. Prof. Dr. Pelin Yoncacı Arslan and Prof. Dr. Esin Boyacıoğlu, for their contributions and remarks. Also, I would like to express my gratitude to all faculty members of METU History of Architecture for their precious courses which helped me gain valuable insight towards architectural history studies. I also would like to thank my family for the endless support that they showed, no matter what happens and under any circumstances. Lastly, I would like thank my beloved partner and my dear friend Deniz Gürata, who never stopped encouraging me and managed to support me more than five years in my every decision. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ............................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ................................................................................................................................. v DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... x CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Aim and Rationale of the Study .................................................................... 1 1.2 City Symphony: A New Form of Visual Documentation ............................. 5 1.3 Scope, Framework and Overview of the Chapters ........................................ 7 2. MODERNITY AND CINEMA ............................................................................. 10 2.1 Introduction: Modernity Between Two World Wars .................................. 10 2.2 Cinema and Changing Behaviors ................................................................ 14 2.3 Cinema and the Retraining of the Perceptual Capacities ............................ 18 2.4 Cinema, Modernity, and Ways of Being in the World ................................ 20 3. CITY SYMPHONY PHENOMENON .................................................................. 22 3.1 Introduction: Studies on City Symphonies .................................................. 22 3.2 Basic Characteristics and the Expansion of the Genre ................................ 24 3.2.1 Stylistic Properties .............................................................................. 28 3.3 Content of City Symphonies........................................................................ 30 3.4 Structure of City Symphonies...................................................................... 34 viii 3.5 City Symphonies and Architectural History ............................................... 39 4. CITY SYMPHONIES OF NEW YORK ............................................................... 41 4.1 Specificities of New York Symphonies ...................................................... 41 4.2 Planning the New York City ....................................................................... 43 4.3 Modernity Exposed ..................................................................................... 45 4.3.1 A Praise to Modernity ........................................................................ 45 4.3.2 Urban Transformation from Island to Densely Populated City ......... 50 4.3.3 Cityscapes of Immigrants ................................................................... 53 4.2.3.1 A Foreigner’s Search for Identity ...................................................... 54 4.2.3.2 A Touristic City ................................................................................. 56 4.4 Urban Economy ........................................................................................... 57 4.4.1 A Capitalist City from the Beginning ................................................ 57 4.4.2 Street as Locus of Consumption ........................................................ 60 4.4.3 Presenting the American Dream: Entertainment and Advertisement 62 4.5 Identity of Spaces ........................................................................................ 63 4.5.1 Gender of Time and Space ................................................................. 64 4.5.1.1 Nature Versus Artificial ..................................................................... 64 4.5.1.2 Morning Versus Night ....................................................................... 66 4.5.1.3 Private Versus Public Spaces ............................................................. 68 4.5.2 Domesticity of the “Others” ............................................................... 70 4.6 Solution for Urban Crisis ............................................................................ 73 5. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 76 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 83 APPENDICES A. APPROVAL OF THE METU HUMAN SUBJECTS ETHICS COMMITTEE .. 94 B. TURKISH SUMMARY / TÜRKÇE ÖZET .......................................................... 95 C.
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