Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
But it's like saying you could put the Color Purple anywhere in The South and it wouldn't make a difference. Actually where in The South was the film set? I have no idea... The South is a big region.
Or just put it in South Florida. Or Metro Atlanta for that matter. It's still about a chemistry teacher entering the meth game. The Color Purple, on the other hand, is a story about the South. The exact part of the South doesn't matter, but the social hierarchy of the South in general does. It would make absolutely no sense set anywhere else and there's no rewriting of characters that could be done to make it work. The South is a fundamental part of the work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CanuckInPortland
You can transfer almost any show or movie to a similar or not similar location and the overall plot structure will probably work out(hell, people take the plots of Shakespearean plays and transfer them to all kinds of locations). You could do My Cousin Vinny in rural Nevada or Idaho and except for a few Southern-specific references to grits and mud and accents, it'd probably work out fine. But it's the local Southern culture and the location that influences the film's feel--even if the plot is transferable.
The first part is true: you can transfer most movies to a different location and they'd pretty much be the same. That's why I said the show's setting in ABQ wasn't important. The second part of your statements is also true, but I think it's less applicable to BB. Barring some wonderful scenes involving the Native element you mentioned (i.e., the Salamanca twins crawling on the ground), Breaking Bad revolves around a middle class White family that's not really distinguishable in any way from White people who live anywhere else in America. Not being from either region (the South or the Southwest), I felt the South was a more integral piece of the story in a movie like Driving Miss Daisy or Fried Green Tomatoes than the Southwest was to BB.
Other than that, a movie like Hitch could have been set in San Francisco. Andy Tennant does a good job of really showcasing the city with some memorable shots (the Ellis Island date, Hook and Ladder, Fulton Fish Market, etc.), but it's not a "New York" movie per se. That's my opinion anyway.
Philadelphia, as I mentioned, is not a Philly movie. It's a movie that happens to be set in Philly. There's nothing particularly memorable about Philadelphia in that movie.
Or just put it in South Florida. Or Metro Atlanta for that matter. It's still about a chemistry teacher entering the meth game. The Color Purple, on the other hand, is a story about the South. The exact part of the South doesn't matter, but the social hierarchy of the South in general does. It would make absolutely no sense set anywhere else and there's no rewriting of characters that could be done to make it work. The South is a fundamental part of the work.
The first part is true: you can transfer most movies to a different location and they'd pretty much be the same. That's why I said the show's setting in ABQ wasn't important. The second part of your statements is also true, but I think it's less applicable to BB. Barring some wonderful scenes involving the Native element you mentioned (i.e., the Salamanca twins crawling on the ground), Breaking Bad revolves around a middle class White family that's not really distinguishable in any way from White people who live anywhere else in America. Not being from either region (the South or the Southwest), I felt the South was a more integral piece of the story in a movie like Driving Miss Daisy or Fried Green Tomatoes than the Southwest was to BB.
And the Southwest is fundamental part of Breaking Bad. I"m not arguing that the South isn't a part of Color Purple or Fried Green Tomatoes, they're both obviously about the South. But Breaking Bad in Metro Atlanta is a different show, I don't even know if I'd have watched that show from the start. The plot can not necessarily be Albuquerque specific in every regard yet Albuquerque and New Mexico can still be a very important part of the show. You wouldn't have plot-lines at the Mexican border, or New Mexican actors like the guy who played Gomez, or showdowns with bikers in the desert or the Western vibe of the show that influenced everything from the music to the plots of the show.
And the Southwest is fundamental part of Breaking Bad. I"m not arguing that the South isn't a part of Color Purple or Fried Green Tomatoes, they're both obviously about the South. But Breaking Bad in Metro Atlanta is a different show, I don't even know if I'd have watched that show from the start. The plot can not necessarily be Albuquerque specific in every regard yet Albuquerque and New Mexico can still be a very important part of the show. You wouldn't have plotlines at the Mexican border, or New Mexican actors like the guy who played Gomez, or showdowns in the desert or the Western vibe of the show that influenced everything from the music to the plotlines.
The Tuco-Salamanca-Don Eladio storyline would have required significant revision. I'm not sure how hard it would be to come up with adequate substitutes for characters and sub-plots had the show been set in, say, Columbus, Ohio.
I don't expect everything in the show to be New Mexico specific. I'm just saying that the show is about your everyday White, middle class family. The Southwest elements add a different flavor to it, but they are so far on the periphery as far as what really matters on this show. Walt is sort of this everyday, regular beta male, Skylar is his Plain Jane wife, they have an everyday, regular middle class home, a regular SUV, regular backyard BBQs with Hank and Marie, regular jobs, etc. I sort of saw his suburban New Mexico lifestyle (along with Jesse's) as sort of a stand in for regular, everyday, run of the mill White, middle class America. The Southwest is not a big part of the show, imo.
Now this is why I watched the show! Not sure why you wouldn't have watched had it not been set in New Mexico.
We'll just agree to disagree on that one. You could easily set BB in the Inland Empire and have the same show. It's Walt's character arc that makes the show: the falling out with Gretchen and Elliott and his ensuing nastiness and bitterness towards them, the reluctant killing of Crazy 8s, the act of omission in watching Jane choke on her own vomit, the decision to kill Gale and poison Brock, etc., etc. The setting of the show is not integral to his character arc at all. I'm not sure why you think Walt could not have transformed into the same Kingpin in San Bernardino with the same drama going down with Skylar, Hank, Jesse, Marie, Gus and Mike.
The Color Purple, a movie I mentioned earlier, is different. It's a movie about Black women in the American South, so you just can't put it in California and have anything close to resembling the same story. You would rob it of all the context that actually makes the movie what it is.
like many movies in this thread, location ain't integral but the producers go out of their way to include references to native-american/tex-mex/... culture.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BajanYankee
Other than that, a movie like Hitch could have been set in San Francisco. Andy Tennant does a good job of really showcasing the city with some memorable shots (the Ellis Island date, Hook and Ladder, Fulton Fish Market, etc.), but it's not a "New York" movie per se. That's my opinion anyway.
Philadelphia, as I mentioned, is not a Philly movie. It's a movie that happens to be set in Philly. There's nothing particularly memorable about Philadelphia in that movie.
The Town, I suppose, is a true Boston movie.
hitch feels very new york (reminds me of hes just not that into you).
philadelphia doesn't feel like a philly movie (perhaps they should've had a scene where tom hanks runs up the rocky steps).
the town fells like a boston movie.
Last edited by stanley-88888888; 08-06-2015 at 04:30 PM..
The Tuco-Salamanca-Don Eladio storyline would have required significant revision. I'm not sure how hard it would be to come up with adequate substitutes for characters and sub-plots had the show been set in, say, Columbus, Ohio.
I don't expect everything in the show to be New Mexico specific. I'm just saying that the show is about your everyday White, middle class family. The Southwest elements add a different flavor to it, but they are so far on the periphery as far as what really matters on this show. Walt is sort of this everyday, regular beta male, Skylar is his Plain Jane wife, they have an everyday, regular middle class home, a regular SUV, regular backyard BBQs with Hank and Marie, regular jobs, etc. I sort of saw his suburban New Mexico lifestyle (along with Jesse's) as sort of a stand in for regular, everyday, run of the mill White, middle class America. The Southwest is not a big part of the show, imo.
Now this is why I watched the show! Not sure why you wouldn't have watched had it not been set in New Mexico.
I still would have watched most likely, but I'm saying that the setting of New Mexico and the desert helped draw me into the show. If the opening was Walt out in some flat pine forest in Georgia or Midwestern suburb, I might not have been as interested in it right off the bat. You don't see a lot of movies/TV set in New Mexico for the most part. And the Mexican cartel element of the show was one the tensest and most interesting elements of it.
Places in the West like Albuquerque do have a lot of sort of average suburban white people like the Whites--most of the country does, so while there was sort of an everyday America feel to the family, I'd argue that a lot of that was contrasted against a sort of sleazy Southwestern underbelly. Have you spent much time travelling across the Southwest? Most of it is either sort of bland newer Sunbelt sprawl on one hand or sort of weird desert rat types--the show was all about the contrast between those two sides of it.
You're right, you could transfer a lot of the story of the White family somewhere else since they weren't especially distinct, they were pretty average--but at the same time without the setting of New Mexico or the deserts of the Southwest, the show would lose a lot of it's coolest scenes and elements.
The setting wasn't irrelevant to Breaking Bad though. As the show went on, the New Mexico setting was definitely a major part of it. There's a weird mix in Albuquerque of sort of old Route 66 stuff, faux-adobe architecture and newer Sunbelt sprawl that goes up to the edge of the desert and then abruptly ends. There's a real sort of slow, quiet feeling to a lot of it and once you get out in the desert it's really eerie in how empty in parts it is.
It wouldn't have been the same show if it was set in the Inland Empire, it might be similar but not the same--that's basically LA suburbs in the desert, but Albuquerque is sort of quirkier in a way. In a way you can imagine Walter White getting away with what he's doing for so long, because Albuquerque is sort of a minor league city. Either way though, the show wouldn't be the same if it wasn't set in the Southwest. And Albuqueque is arguably the most purely Southwestern city in feel.
The bolded part is really key. As I posted, Vince Gilligan said that as the show went on the city became an important character and part of the show.
It doesn't matter why Breaking Bad ended up being filmed in Albuquerque. What does matter is that the setting of the show was changed from the Inland Empire to Albuquerque.
I'm sure the fact that the cast and crew lived in Albuquerque for months out of each year while they were filming the show influenced the way the actors portrayed their characters and also drove the storyline of the show in a unique direction. Quirky things about the city that were paid attention to never would've been, had the show remained set in the Inland Empire.
If anybody wants to argue with that, then they are arguing against what the main creative force and writer of the show says and thinks. As I said, I'll take his opinion and thoughts over any others to the contrary.
What's with all the gang movies listed for Los Angeles? There are a plethora of films that take place in Los Angeles that have nothing to do with gangs.
In saying this, I can't wait for Straight Outta Compton to be released. There are billboards all over South Central. I will definitely be seeing that in theaters.
I agree when someone said Boyz 'N' the Hood is accurate, in terms of gang activity back in the 80's/90's. Friday, while humorous, is pretty accurate as well, in terms of gang activity.
Exactly. Yet, "Sex in the City" was chose for NYC in hopes of "pussifying" NYC. Why not choose Godfather, New Jack City, American Gangster etc for NYC? Seriously.
I see that some people are arguing that some films/shows could have taken place somewhere else, but I am listing films/shows that have its location as a memorable part of the film/show's identity.
Here are some cities/states represented by films/shows--
Sleepless in Seattle (Seattle)
Fargo (Minneapolis, Brainerd, and Fargo for one scene)
Vertigo (San Francisco). That film makes San Francisco feel like such a beautiful, dreamlike city. It does not hurt that it is one of my favorite films.
No Country for Old Men (south Texas; Tex/Mex border, Mexico)
Dumb and Dumber (Aspen, CO; Providence, RI)
Misery (Colorado)
Napoleon Dynamite (Idaho)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Mississippi)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Alabama)
The Shining (Colorado) the Torrance family is from Denver...but mostly it represents Colorado.
King of the Hill (Texas). The show is very Texas-oriented, but obviously it does not represent a real-life city.
Location: NYC based - Used to Live in Philly - Transplant from Miami
2,307 posts, read 2,779,484 times
Reputation: 2610
Quote:
Originally Posted by stanley-88888888
thanks for the insite but the mighty ducks i assumed was based in l.a. Because of the hockey team. Aside from fargo none of them scream twin cities (and thats because of the name).
+1 trading places, rocky
i dont remember anything philly in philadelphia (except for the name). We will count it because the video for the bruce springstein song was very philadelphia.
6th sense, 12 monkeys, law abiding citizen (even though mayor nutter is in it) could've been shot anywhere.
I havent seen the others.
national treasure is equal parts boston, new york, philadelphia, d.c. (also, nick cage movies dont count).
ouch! Lol!
OK on the top of my head though:
1. New Orleans
The Skeleton Key.
2. Chicago
Ferris Bueller's Day off.
3. Miami (Since I am from there this is the one I am the most familiar and have a long list).
Birdcage
Meet the Fockers
There's Something about Mary
The Fast and Furious - one of them I dont remember which one (I saw the filming!) ;D
Any Given Sunday
Marley & Me (both Miami and Philly)
Wild Things
Casino Royale?
4. Philly
Marley & Me
Rocky
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
