Chapter 1708： New York New York

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Emma Watson looked at the Statue of Liberty in front of her. At this time, she was a little far away. She could only see a vague outline, and there was no way to see the details of the statue. But even so, there are still many tourists coming and going in this port. Many tourists can't wait to leave a commemorative photo with the Statue of Liberty as the background, as a proof of their coming to New York.

Emma Watson glanced back at Evan Bell, who was standing not far away, just looking at the Statue of Liberty. No wonder he asked for that scene just now: two strangers, after arriving in New York, excitedly. He eagerly held up a sign that said "Greetings from the other side of the Atlantic," adjusted the time-lapse function of the camera, and then made various expressions in front of the camera. The clear sky has become eclipsed.

Involuntarily, Emma Watson looked back at Teddy Bell, who was standing on her right hand. She wanted to look for Teddy Bell's face to see if she could find an expression similar to Evan' Bell. There's a hint of sadness in it. As a result, Emma Watson did not find a similar expression, but saw Teddy Bell's brows that were slightly gathered in the middle, revealing a look of nostalgia.

Emma Watson suddenly remembered that the Bell family was born in London, and then came to New York to work hard with the American dream. To a certain extent, "Me", which was filmed for the music video today, is also the story of the Bell family. Thinking of this, Emma Watson couldn't help but ask, "Teddy, is New York now the same as you remember?"

Hearing the question, Teddy Bell turned to look at Emma Watson and laughed, "It's different, it's completely different."

Evan Bell looked at the Statue of Liberty in front of him and thought of the same thing. The New York in front of him is not what it looked like ten years ago.

In the blink of an eye, their family of three has been in New York for nineteen years. Nineteen years, which is really a very long number.

When the Bell family of three came to New York in the summer of 1988, New York was still a very chaotic city. The Bell family arrived in Port Elizabeth, New York, after crossing the Atlantic on a cruise ship, entering the land of the United States under the gaze of the Statue of Liberty.

New York in the 1970s was officially a newly emerging city. Countless immigrants migrated from all over the world to the east coast of the United States. At that time, the streets and alleys of New York still had the mark of the lawlessness of the 1970s. The subway is actually a gang's gallery. The graffiti on the wall brings an endless sense of art, but also makes people feel the oppression of the gang. Forty-second Street is a paradise for gangsters. Twelfth Street is still a red-light district, but in the late 1980s, Forty-Second Street was even darker, chaotic, and depraved; and Harlem was a "best not to go" area. Street gangsters are just a street scene. The drug-infested scene is the main theme, which makes people shudder.

At that time, the mayor of New York was Ed Kutcher, an out-and-out New Yorker with a "sour in a sour" attitude unique to New York Jews. He famously said, "When everyone is wrong, all Everyone is right..." This nonsense is also very appropriate for old New York. Manhattan at that time was dirty and messy, not to mention the current crossroads of the world, even compared with the current Brooklyn and Queens, Manhattan at that time was not comparable.

In fact, old New Yorkers now like to say, "When Kutcher was mayor, that was the most authentic New York you've ever seen."

The Bell family stepped on the tail of the most authentic New York.

The Bensenhe district in 199% was far more chaotic than it is now, not to mention the harsh and dilapidated environment, just talking about gangsters of all skin colors and races, gang fights, drug abuse, prostitutes everywhere, and a melting pot of ethnicities. The contradictions and conflicts are known far and near. Although not as good as the Harlem area where green products gather, the Bensenhe area was also an area with a very high crime rate at that time. Brooklyn, now synonymous with seclusion away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, was synonymous with depravity back then.

After entering the 1990s, New York became more and more mainstream. Mainstream, this term is often used in a positive sense, but occasionally, it is also a derogatory term, such as in New York in the 1990s.

In that era, in order to maintain law and order, more and more policemen took to the streets of New York, and fewer and fewer drug dealers were in sight; the colorful advertising boards of adult movies and Broadway around Times Square The pictures of advertisements complementing each other have become an area for Disney and major advertisers to compete for; and the mayor Giuliani, who was called "Fascist" at the time, even dug up a nineteenth century called "Karaoke Law (.Law. The old law was re-enforced. Under this law, dancing is not allowed in places without a nightclub license. Evan Bell still remembers that at the time of the club, everyone sat quietly at the bar drinking, and the dance floor was empty. The biggest mockery of the term "Club Club" was made, and there were always two burly guards standing next to the DJ booth, with a large sign "No Dancing (JNG behind it.

Of course, under this series of management, New York gradually faded away from its dark and sinful clothes, and gradually became a typical representative of an international metropolis. The decrease in crime rate, the improvement of the city appearance and the reduction of gangsters have all made the title of New York's "Big Apple" regain its luster.

A special exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an experimental musical off Broadway, a new barbecue restaurant in Little Italy in downtown, a cable car ride on Roosevelt Island at night, a leisurely afternoon sunbathing on the lawns of Central Park… all of these make New York Full of sparkling novelties.

The Bell family got a new lease of life in New York that was gradually getting better in the 1990s. Eleven dry cleaners gradually got on track, Evan Bell entered Off-Broadway and began to study chalk, Teddy Bell read while helping workers, The generosity of the Hathaway family. Life is finally getting better.

New York like this has become mainstream. That's a good thing for many, including the Bells, and maybe their Eleven dry cleaners in Bensonhe wouldn't last as long without a change in New York. But for the city of New York, it is not necessarily a good thing.

New York has more rules, but also more safety and more choices after the layer of grease that covers the surface of the city is less. If it weren't for the vicious look of the citizens when they were fighting for taxis, or if they didn't make a trip to Queens for a whole year, then they would really think this place was paradise.

However, as the mainstream in New York's blood becomes more and more abundant, the rhythm that belongs to the city is disappearing little by little. The city was surrounded by boutiques and huge media conglomerates, and the stench of Wall Street money began to replace New York's original street casualness, permeating every crack in the street. Even the underground performers who brazenly publicize their individuality on the streets cannot hide the noisy, impetuous and exaggerated taste of money in the city air.

The theory of the supremacy of money has allowed New York to transform from the decadence of the 1980s, but at the same time, it has also caused New York to lose itself after entering the 21st century.

City, why is it not alone? It's like a poor scholar, destitute, walking erratically, starving, and dying. But this scholar relies on his own efforts to win respect, honor, and power. What follows is a beautiful life of colorful, dizzying, singing and dancing, and big fish and meat. It was beautiful, inspiring, and motivating. But when the scholar forgot his origin and began to float up and down in the sea of ​​desires composed of money, power, and fame, everything lost its original flavor.

New York is like that.

Times Square has become clean and tidy, with many tourists, but there are fewer ballet girls dancing barefoot and swearing hip-hop boys in the center of the square; Forty-Second Street has become tidy and standardized, and it has become a city scene. But the mutual care between the struggling neighbors at the grassroots level is missing, leaving only infinite debauchery and filth; the Empire State Building, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, these countless classics attract the whole world. Tourists from all over the world come here to have fun, but they lack the bungalows and streets familiar to New Yorkers and the graffiti art in the subway.

This is a very beautiful city. It used to be, is now, and will be in the future. However, in different time and space, the bright spots are different. Today's New York is full of traffic, high-rise buildings, and prosperity, but the cage built by money has turned all New Yorkers into prison birds, unable to fly any more, and can only be imprisoned in this huge, In an empty, lifeless city.

Looking at the Statue of Liberty in front of her, it has now become a paradise for tourists. Looking around, Evan Bell guessed that there are very few real New Yorkers around. This is a city full of New Yorkers, but it is also an empty city: because the people who make up the soul of the city have been lost in the huge steel forest, and the essence of the city has quietly disappeared in the colorful lights.

Evan Bell has never concealed his love for New York. Even if he has the ability to leave now, he is still reluctant to leave this "cage" full of memories, and still stubbornly and happily persists on Princes Street. This is not only the beginning of the rise of the Bell family, but also the soil where the Bell family takes root. However, the Bell family seems to have not kept up with the pace of New York's monetization. Hold on a little.

Evan Bell couldn't help but sigh, "New York, I love this city deeply, but you always disappoint me and burn the last little hope in my heart."

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