Anna McAuliffe

English 101

Phillips 

21 March 2016

The Lost City of New York

On April 25, 2005 The New Yorker released an issue of its magazine with a detailed cover capable of being interpreted in several different ways. The image appears to encompass a version of New York City that is set underwater.  The fish, sharks, and other forms of marine life as well as the entire image being captured in a shade of blue, all allude to spectators that the city is in the ocean. The city skyline includes what seems to be the Empire State building which supports the theory that this city is in fact NYC. After spectators identify what they are observing, the artist challenges them to see more and take away a message from the cover. The artist of April 25, 2005's issue of The New Yorker shows readers via color, detail, and perspective that the city is underwater for the purpose of representing the inevitability of rising sea level due to pollution and Global Warming that will submerge cities across the globe. The artist is also using symbolism via the illustration of fish to draw connections between the ocean food chain and the political economic food chain of New York City business.  

New York City is one of the most populated and busiest cities in the world. It is the home to about eight and a half million people ("Current and Projected Populations"). It is also an iconic representation of industry ever since what some call the second Industrial Revolution. American Industry was built in New York City and it has grown exponentially since the late nineteenth century. Combine the crowded population of New York City with the industrial connotations it holds and you have a city that largely influences pollution. "Air pollution in New York City is a significant environmental threat which contributes to an estimated 6% of annual deaths" ("Air Pollution"). The negative effects on the environment not only come from the day to day city pollution, but also the big picture pollution that comes from industry. Certain industries operate without regards to its effects on the environment. Pollution progressed by companies on a large scale has had a very strong effect on Global Warming and continues to do so. Global Warming is happening possibly on an evolutionary clock, but it is also being progressed by human responsible pollution. The process of Global Warming leads to rising temperatures across the world which results in melting. Global ice melting then causes an increase in the volume of water in the oceans.  Besides the negative affects this will create for nature it also poses a threat to human civilization. For example, cities like Miami and New Orleans that are below sea level could be completely underwater in just a hundred years. In the April 25, 2005 issue of The New Yorker, spectators can observe what appears to be a city underwater. The artist's use of color helps spectators come to the conclusion that the image is in fact underwater. The entire image is colored in a shade of blue. The color blue represents the color the ocean usually is. Also, there are the fish and the sharks that obviously allude to the portrayal that the image is in a body of water. The perspective of the image also continues the conveyance of the image being below water. The point of view of image comes from below the surface; spectators can tell that they are below the surface of the ocean because of the light breaking through at the top of the image. The top of the image ripples between lighter and darker shades of blue detailing the portrayal of what the surface looks like from below. Because the shades contrast from light to dark, spectators observe the relationship the light has with the surface, and they realize the perspective is from underneath the surface due to the unique light and water visual above. By conveying New York City underwater, The New Yorker is showing the possibilities of cities being submerged due to rising sea levels. Since New York City represents a large human population it is an important correlation to the fact that humans are destroying their environment to the point where it is inhabitable for them. Also New York City represents industry which is also being used to convey that industry is playing such a large role on pollution and on how the environment will react to Earth's rising temperatures. The image of New York City underwater, a place that means so much to so many people, is hopefully enough to get people to realize how possible something like this is. Sea level rise is a serious concern that has serious consequences which can be stopped with action starting with the people and industrial corporations of New York City. 

This cover in April of 2005 was designed for a New York City magazine of course, but it means something more that the city in the image is in fact New York City. New York City has traditionally been a classic representation of success and power. When one thinks of "making it big" or "having it all", New York City will likely be in that equation. Besides maybe L.A., NYC has the strongest connotations of success in any city in America. Working in New York City or having a large business operating from there comes with status. And with those achievements, there will most likely come some greed and corruption. Successful people in business are able to achieve a high status which in turn comes with a lot of power and then allows them to do whatever they want. Someone like this in business is usually called a "shark". Traditionally, sharks usually hold negative connotations. If someone is described as or called a "shark" it usually means they are cut-throat or aggressive. The "sharks" are the successful people with power; being called a "shark" means you are in control, the top of the food chain, but that power is unearned or mistreated if you're considered a "shark". The actual sharks illustrated in the image represent of the metaphorical "sharks" found in New York City businesses. The fish in the image represent an individual moving to New York City in the hope of achieving success or a group of people running a small business. An individual trying to support him or herself in a large city can easily be compared to a fish taking on the vast ocean. A lot of times when people leave home out into the "real world" it can be scary and this situation is compared to the ocean often. New York City is a good representation of people starting off on their own for the first time because of all the work and opportunity in the vast city. All the sharks in the image seem to be swimming towards the city while all the other fish are swimming towards their way out of the city. This represents the greedy corporations filing into the city while smaller businesses have to go elsewhere. Furthermore, this exemplifies how the rich get richer, and the city becomes more corrupt spitting the striving individuals out.  It also represents big versus small business in general.  In a fight between a fish and a shark there is no competition. This also applies to the big and small businesses. A lot of times small businesses have a lot of trouble with large corporations that have more resources. The New Yorker is showing spectators how rise of corporate industries affects the small business owners. New York City is a representation of the open market in America. By showing how the sharks send the fish away, the magazine cover is showing how big business put out small businesses all over the country. 

Depending how you look at things and based on previous knowledge one has acquired, what someone sees looking at this cover of The New Yorker can be vastly different from what another may interpret. For instance, if someone is not as well acquainted with the background knowledge of Global Warming and what it means for sea level rise, they would not have realized what the artist may have intended by portraying New York City underwater. The April 25th issue in 2005 had a cover that portrayed to its spectators that the actions taken by individuals or a conglomerate in pursuit of success and power can have serious consequences on the environment or the American economy that all the power in the world will not be enough to preserve it.  

Works Cited

Dept. of City Planning. "Current and Projected Populations." NYC Population. The City of New

York, 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/nyc-population/current-future-populations.page>.

New York City underwater. Digital image. The New Yorker. N.p., 25 Apr. 2005. Web. 21 Mar.

2016. <http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/04/25>.

The Office of the Mayor. "Air Pollution." Air Pollution. The City of New York, 2016. Web. 21

Mar. 2016. <http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/air/index.shtml>.
