The Bronx

====Symbolism====
Starting in the 1970s, the Bronx often symbolized violence, decay, and urban ruin. The wave of arson in the South Bronx in the 1960s and 1970s inspired the observation that "The Bronx is burning": in 1974 it was the title of both an editorial in ''[[The New York Times]]'' and a [[BBC]] [[documentary film]].<ref>O'Connor, John J. [https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/13/archives/tv-cbs-on-cia-and-bbcs-bronx-is-burning.html "TV: CBS on C.I.A., and BBC's ''Bronx is Burning''"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 13, 1975. Accessed March 10, 2023. "This Sunday at 9 P.M., WNEW/Channel 5 will offer an hour‐long documentary called ''The Bronx is Burning.'' Documenting the daily routines of Engine. Company 82 in the South Bronx, the program captures some of the peculiar ingredients that constitute 'perhaps the toughest square mile in the city.'""</ref> The line entered the pop-consciousness with Game Two of the [[1977 World Series]], when a fire broke out near [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]] as the team was playing the [[Los Angeles Dodgers]]. As the fire was captured on live television, announcer [[Howard Cosell]] [[The Bronx Is Burning#Summary|is wrongly remembered to have said something like]], "There it is, ladies and gentlemen: the Bronx is burning". Historians of New York City often point to Cosell's remark as an acknowledgement of both the city and the borough's decline.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mahler |first=Jonathan |title=Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning |url=https://archive.org/details/ladiesgentlemenb00mahl |url-access=registration |year=2005 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=0-312-42430-2}}</ref> A feature-length documentary film by Edwin Pagán called ''Bronx Burning'' chronicled what led up to the many arson-for-insurance fraud fires of the 1970s in the borough.<ref>Conde, Ed Garcia. [https://welcome2thebronx.com/2014/05/06/bronx-burning-a-documentary-by-edwin-pagan/ "''Bronx Burning'': A Documentary By Edwin Pagán"], Welcome2TheBronx, May 6, 2014. Accessed March 10, 2023. "Edwin Pagán, a "New York-based filmmaker, Photographer, cinematographer, screenwriter and cultural activist," will begin filming Bronx Burning this June and is seeking individuals who lived those terrible years of our borough and have any personal, unique, or little known stories they'd like to share."</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bronxarts.org/newsletter/200601.html |title=Opportunities for Arts Organizations and Community Based Organizations |publisher=Bronx Council on the Arts |work=E-News Update |date=January 2006 |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060626082500/http://www.bronxarts.org/newsletter/200601.html |archive-date=June 26, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Bronx gang life was depicted in the 1974 novel ''The Wanderers'' by Bronx native [[Richard Price (writer)|Richard Price]] and the [[The Wanderers (1979 film)|1979 movie of the same name]]. They are set in the heart of the Bronx, showing apartment life and the then-landmark Krums ice cream parlor. In the 1979 film ''[[The Warriors (film)|The Warriors]]'', the eponymous gang go to a meeting in [[Van Cortlandt Park]] in the Bronx, and have to fight their way out of the borough and get back to [[Coney Island]] in [[Brooklyn]]. ''[[A Bronx Tale]]'' (1993) depicts gang activities in the [[Belmont, Bronx|Belmont]] "Little Italy" section of the Bronx. The 2005 video game adaptation features levels called Pelham, Tremont, and "Gunhill" (a play off the name [[Gun Hill Road (Bronx)|Gun Hill Road]]). This theme lends itself to the title of ''[[The Bronx Is Burning]]'', an eight-part [[ESPN]] TV mini-series (2007) about the [[New York Yankees]]' drive to winning baseball's [[1977 World Series]]. The TV series emphasizes the team's boisterous nature, led by manager [[Billy Martin]], catcher [[Thurman Munson]] and outfielder [[Reggie Jackson]], as well as the malaise of the Bronx and New York City in general during that time, such as the blackout, the city's serious financial woes and near bankruptcy, the arson for insurance payments, and the election of [[Ed Koch]] as mayor.

The 1981 film ''[[Fort Apache, The Bronx]]'' is another film that used the Bronx's gritty image for its storyline. The movie's title is from the nickname for the 41st Police Precinct in the South Bronx which was nicknamed "Fort Apache". Also from 1981 is the horror film ''[[Wolfen (film)|Wolfen]]'' making use of the rubble of the Bronx as a home for werewolf type creatures. ''[[Knights of the South Bronx]]'', a true story of a teacher who worked with disadvantaged children, is another film also set in the Bronx released in 2005. The Bronx was the setting for the 1983 film ''[[Fuga dal Bronx]]'', also known as ''Bronx Warriors 2'' and ''Escape 2000'', an Italian B-movie best known for its appearance on the television series ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''. The plot revolves around a sinister construction corporation's plans to depopulate, destroy and redevelop the Bronx, and a band of rebels who are out to expose the corporation's murderous ways and save their homes. The film is memorable for its almost incessant use of the phrase, "Leave the Bronx!" Many of the movie's scenes were filmed in [[Queens]], substituting as the Bronx. ''[[Rumble in the Bronx]]'', filmed in Vancouver, was a 1995 [[Jackie Chan]] [[kung-fu]] film, another which popularized the Bronx to international audiences. ''[[Last Bronx]]'', a 1996 Sega game played on the bad reputation of the Bronx to lend its name to an alternate version of post-Japanese bubble Tokyo, where crime and gang warfare is rampant. The 2016 [[Netflix]] series ''[[The Get Down]]'' is based on the development of hip hop in 1977 in the South Bronx.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/15/baz-luhrmann-get-down-tv-review-netflix "''The Get Down'' review – an insanely extravagant love letter to 70s New York"] by Sam Wollaston, ''[[The Guardian]]'', August 15, 2016</ref>