Following the trail of superheroes, Harry Potter and an FBI agent
Many movies and TV shows are set in famous cities, but sometimes fictitious megacities and settlements appear as an “arena”, which, however, have prototypes. “Around the World” tells about several fictional cities that any sophisticated traveler would like to visit.
Gotham City
In the fictional city of Gotham City, the action of works about Batman, one of the most famous comic book characters, takes place. The prototypes of Gotham were once New York and Chicago, and in the modern cinematic universe DC Comics, according to the producers and writers of the Batman films, the likeness has shifted towards the latter. That is, for the most up-to-date picture of Gotham, it is worth going to Chicago.
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Photo:© Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection/Legion-Media
In Todd Phillips' Joker, Gotham City appears as a dysfunctional metropolis steeped in corruption and crime. Residents of the city suffer from social disorder and injustice, and garbage and huge rats literally flooding the streets reinforce an already uncomfortable image.
And yet, Gotham, if it existed in reality, would be attractive to tourists (as New York is attractive): the financial and entertainment center of Gotham attracts adventurers and pleasure seekers, and the unusual Gothic architecture of the center is able to capture the imagination of any onlooker.
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Metropolis
Fritz Lang's Metropolis from the 1927 black-and-white film of the same name (not to be confused with the Metropolis from the DC Comics universe – the habitat of Superman) appears to the audience in a completely different way. However, in Lang's sci-fi dystopia, the futuristic city is divided into an upper Paradise, where the “masters of life” live, and an underground industrial Hell, where oppressed workers live, whose very existence seems to be dictated by the need to maintain giant machines alone.
1/3Photo: Moviestore Collection Ltd/Alamy via Legion Media can be seen in the fantastic epic “Blade Runner”: shining with countless lights and neon, the metropolis from Scott's film resembles at the same time both the Lang Metropolis mentioned above, Hong Kong at night, and the sketches of the Italian architect Antonio Sant'Elia.
1/3Photo: CAP/KFS/Capital Pictures Stock via Legion Media
The city from Blade Runner will be the reference for many later sci-fi films and fantasy dystopias, including Alex Proyas' Dark City, The Matrix by the Wachowski brothers, Tim Burton's Batman, Luc Besson's The Fifth Element.
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Twin Peaks
The sleepy town of Twin Peaks, where, according to the scenario of David Lynch and Mark Frost, the mysterious murder of schoolgirl Laura Palmer takes place, which is being investigated by FBI agent Dale Cooper, became the same sleepy towns in northwestern Washington state, many of which are located near the Canadian border : Filming took place in North Bend, Snoqualmie and Fall City. For example, the scenes in the Double R diner were filmed at Twede's in North Bend, so it's worth heading there for cherry pie and “damn good coffee”.< /p>1/3Photo:Photo 12/Alamy via Legion Media
Hogsmeade
The only village in England where only wizards live is Hogsmeade from the universe of books and films about Harry Potter by English writer Joan Rowling. The village is taken from numerous charming villages in the north-east of England. According to Rowling's mythology, Hogsmeade is located on the other side of the lake, which lies at the foot of Hogwarts Castle.
There are many shops, cafes and restaurants in the village, it has its own railway station (it is here that the Hogwarts Express arrives and departs from here every year on the day the school semester begins, to take students home for the holidays), as well as the General Hut — an abandoned building that allegedly has the largest number of ghosts in all of England.
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Basin City
Another fictional city from the comic universe—Basin City. It is the main setting for the Frank Miller graphic novel universe Sin City. According to legend, the city was founded in the 19th century as a staging post on the way of gold prospectors, where they could sell their loot and relax in local saloons and brothels – hence the nickname “Sin City”.
1/3Photo:Photo 12/Alamy via Legion Media
In Miller's black and white world, corrupt officials, corrupt cops and crime families rule, so the people of Basin City are taught cynicism and cruelty from a young age —only they can save themselves.
< p>Material published in October 2019, partially updated in November 2022
Nikita Kharchevnikov