Drinking Buddies

While watching “Drinking Buddies” with a friend last night, we were discussing the scenes where the Chicago skyline is shown in the film. My friend wasn’t sure it was indeed shot there, but thought it could possibly be a backdrop or some editing genius. Of course, we pulled out our phones and looked it up. It was really Chicago.

The conversation then diverged onto how many movies and TV shows are shot in Chicago. There are those that obviously have the city established in the script, such as “Superman: Man of Steel” or the Batman Trilogy, or those that open with a shot of the city to convey the setting, but when we researched it, some surprised me. Together Movies Filmed in Chicago and TV Shows by Year have a very complete listing. Seeing the full list made me wonder – “Why Chicago?”

Turns out Chicago is a popular place to film partly due to the Chicago Film Office, a branch of the city’s cultural department, which acts as a middleman facilitating the process for filmmakers  needing permits and other services from the city for their projects and of course partly due to the legacy of the city itself. Chicago has a special interest in attracting filmmakers to its city as this generates a substantial income through tourism from those who have seen the city glamorized in films and come to experience it for themselves. Having been there, I have to say it lives up to the hype.

Filming of Transformers in Millennium Park.

Chicago, the Third Coast of the United States ?

"It is hopeless for the occasional visitor to try to keep up with Chicago. She outgrows his prophecies faster than he can make them." - Mark Twain, 1883

When we think about Chicago we all have images of a mythical city that come into our mind : Al Capone with his ganster acomplices who spread terror in an industrial setting city among civilian citizens who seem to walk straight out of a 1950's black and white movie, bluesmen and jazzmen playing music in dark alley's nightclubs, tall skyscrapers in an urban polluted setting contrasting with vast natural parks and the majestic Lake Michingan.

But what do we really know about Chicago ? As Mark Twain said, it's hard for outsiders to keep up with its constant evolution and it outgrows to a large extent what we can assume about it.

Located between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States, after New York City and Los Angeles. As it experienced rapid growth in the mid-nineteenth century, it became a symbol of the industrialized city. It is today an international hub for finance, commerce, industry, technology, telecommunications, and transportation especially thanks to the lake Michigan which provides privileged trading relationships with Canada. However, not only economically powerful, it is also a major cultural center in the United State. Its contributions to the visual arts, literature, cinema, theater, architecture make it one of the most dynamic city of the country. 

The United States is often said to be divided into two major cultural centers: the East and the West Coast. Nevertheless, with its dynamism and its proximity with the lake Michigan, Chicago could be considered as the third Coast, offering a new perspective to the balance of the country.

Throughout this blog, we will try to look into thoses cultural, historical and societal aspects as well as its particularities which make Chicago one of the greatest city of the United States.