Various forms of media present places in different ways.
New York is often represented in the media, as it is an important city with lots going on. It has been presented through TV programmes, such as Gossip Girl. All the main characters are based in the upper east side, which is a very wealthy area. Others live in Brooklyn, which is generally presented as poorer and more run-down, so inequalities are quite heavily shown. Generally, the city seems very glamorous, busy and scandalous, and it seems heavily romanticised.
New York has also often been represented in music. For example, the city is the subject of the song Empire State of Mind by Alicia Keys, which describes the city as a land of opportunity, giving a very positive impression of the area. Taylor Swift gives a similar impression in her song Welcome to New York, as she describes that “Everybody here was someone else before”, giving the idea that New York provides you opportunities to reinvent yourself and your life, suggesting there are great prospects for people there. Paloma Faith’s song New York presents the idea that the temptation of the beauty of New York city resulted in her partner leaving her to move there. Describing that “She had poisoned his sweet mind” suggests that New York is quite manipulative, and from the outside seems extremely beautiful and captivating, but perhaps once you are an insider, you wake up to the poison you experienced, and perhaps the city is not as it seems.