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Manhattan by Woody Allen The movie Manhattan is about a middle-age writer living in New York City Isaac Davis, played by Woody Allen. Isaac struggles in his relationship with women. He is fighting with his ex-wife to stop her publishing an embarrassing book about their failed marriage. He dates a precocious seventeen year old girl, Tracy, who adores him but whose love is constantly disapproved by him. He sees his best friend Yale goes through an ex-marital affair. He then falls for Yales mistress - Mary, an opinionated literati, who is emotionally confused and unstable. He eventually loses both Tracy and Mary. In the end, Isaac realizes his true feelings, and rushes to find Tracy just as she is leaving New York. In this movie, Woody Allen examines the complexity of modern relationship, where love, the most potent human emotion, brings people romance, happiness, hope, but also blindness, illusions, pain, disappointment, and regrets. Woody Allen employs symbolism in the movie to reflect the theme, characters, and situations in the movie. Isaac is attracted to Mary, but their romance is ill-fated. Their first date is suggested by Mary to for a walk on a beautiful day. The beautiful day turns into a frightening thunder storm which they scurried to escape. This is a harbinger for the future of their relationship that will end badly. Another scene is when they are floating on the rowing boat in Central Park, relaxing and talking. The idyllic atmosphere is comically interrupted when Isaac casually dips his hand into the water and ends up with a handful of dirty mud. It symbolizes the state of their romance that all is not what it seems. They

Wang 2 have a wonderful and marvelous time together, but as Isaac later finds out - Mary is still in love with Yale. Isaacs relationship with Tracy is different. Woody Allen uses the horse-drawn carriage ride and the harmonica Tracy gives to Isaac to symbolize their romance and Tracys love for Isaac. Tracy is a stark contrast to Mary. While Mary is nervous and rambles on confusingly, Tracy is calm and speaks simply and with common sense. In Isaacs dates with Mary at planetarium, museum, and cinema, Mary constantly asserts and displays her cerebral-ness. With Tracy, they go to pizza parlor, eat Chinese food in bed, they are relaxed and comfortable, and have a great time together. The romance with Tracy is simple and un-pretentious, as symbolized by the horse-drawn carriage ride in Central Park suggested by Tracy. The ride is an old-fashioned romance, with just the two people enjoying each others company and intimacy. The harmonica from Tracy symbolizes her love for Isaac. Like the carriage ride, it is unfamiliar to Isaac, although Tracy tries to open up that side of him. Isaac initially eschews it. Not knowing what to do, he puts it aside just as he continuously dismisses her love for him. In the end, he remembers Tracy, remembers the harmonica, and realizes he has been blind to her true love. Woody Allen uses symbols to reflect the characters state of mind. For Isaac, it is the brown drinking water he drinks at his apartment. Like the water lacking clarity, his judgment on love life is clouded he dismisses Tracys pure and simple affection as childish and is drawn to Mary despite her troubled personality. The symbolism of the brown water is more poignant in what Tracy and Mary each does with regards to it. As Isaac fusses over the water, Tracy is confident and assures him that she can fix it (and the

Wang 3 dilapidated condition of the apartment) if he gives her a chance. Just like their relationship, she can put his life in good order only if he believes in them. In contrast, Mary drinks the brown water to take her Valium pill, in order to gain clarity and control of her life. In way, Isaac is like her Valium, which she relies on to avoid loneliness. She never gains control of her life and eventually breaks Isaacs heart and wrecks Yales marriage. Marys troubled state of mind is symbolized by her dog that barks constantly and her phone that never stops ringing. The cacophony highlights her state of agitation and turmoil. She is nervous and confused. She is still reconciling with what happened in her first marriage. She is frustrated about carrying on an affair with a married man but unable to stop herself. She dates another man but still in love with the previous man. Like the noises, her life is filled with bullshits that she is unable to calm down and think clearly to take charge. When Mary receives the phone call from Yale wanting to see her, she lies to Isaac saying it was a phone call offering free dance lesson. Isaac then makes the ironic remarks that they give you one free lesson then they hook you for $50,000 worth. The free dance lesson draws an ironic parallel to Mary the free girlfriend that Isaac received from Yale. It seems like a convenient win-win situation, however, nothing is free, especially when it comes to the matter of heart. Yale and Mary are unable to curb their feelings for each other, and Isaac has his heart first taken and then thoroughly broken. The free dance lesson also symbolizes the illusions each of the four characters has in their emotional entanglement: Isaac has the illusion that he can bring positive changes to Mary, both Mary and Yale have the illusion that they are fine to meet after their affair ended, and Emily, Yales wife, has the illusion that compromise will bring her the marriage and

Wang 4 the children that she so desires. They deceive themselves, and end up paying with heartbreaks, a damaged friendship, and a broken marriage. The movie opens with the black and white montage of New York City scenes, accompanied by Isaacs monologue about the city. He adores and romanticizes the city, and laments its modern decay. His idealized version of the city is in the past where the city is still a town existed in black and white, and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin. The same can be said of his feeling towards love and relationship. He is romantic and sexual; he loves beautiful and smart women. He believes in love and romance, but he is traditional; he cannot accept himself being forty-two dating seventeen years old Tracy. He is disturbed by the contemporary relationship that lacks morality, so he shuns the infidelity and dishonesty in Yales marriage. Despite his mixed-feeling about New York, his love for the city is insuppressible, as symbolized by the magnificent fireworks that light up the city skyline. It is a celebration of a great city. The fireworks also symbolize Isaacs optimism about love. They echo the smile on Isaacs face in the ending shots of the film. Having finally confessed his love for Tracy and is desperate for her to stay, Tracys words of not everybody gets corrupted...have to have a little faith in people restores Isaacs spirit and belief in love. He is enlightened by the truth of love. The movie Manhattan is a social commentary about love and relationship in the modern age. The director Woody Allen cleverly uses symbolism in the movie to produce visual and conceptual references to the human experience and emotions love may feel like brown water at times and ultimately it is the fireworks that light up our lives.