New York Daily Photo Analytics

Thursday, June 10, 2010

World Domination


There is an episode of the Twilight Zone, The Little People, where astronauts William Fletcher and Peter Craig are marooned on another planet. In exploring the planet, Craig discovers a Lilliputian city with miniature people. Soon, Craig becomes an obsessed lunatic and appoints himself as a god over these people, terrorizing them into submission. At one point, he even forces the populace to build a life-size statue of himself. In an ironic ending, Craig himself becomes a victim when two enormous spacemen visit the planet. One of them picks up the ant-sized Craig, accidentally crushing him to death.

We can easily understand Craig's dark side - what child (or child within the adult) is not fascinated observing people and cars from extreme heights? Can't you just hear them remarking to one another how tiny they are and how they look like toys? As if they could reach down and pick them up.
I recall my first visit to the Empire State Building, where, at the observation deck on the 86th floor, I was able to squeeze my head through the fencing and look straight down, seeing for the first time the toylike world I had only imagined or seen on TV.

There's a touch of megalomania in many of us and viewing the world from atop skyscrapers gives just the vantage point to fantasize our domination over the world below. And what better place to reign than New York City?

Many urban jungle lovers (see my story here and here) relish exploration of the city, following the beaten paths or cutting their own swaths. But from time to time, there comes a desire to see the forest from the treetops. New York City affords a myriad of opportunities to do this via observation decks, bridges, and high rise apartment and office buildings. Today's photo is a rooftop view looking straight down from the 26th floor of a luxury high rise apartment building in Greenwich Village.

I love the culture, arts, architecture and people of the city, but from time to time I want to see the little cars and people below. So, next time you get the chance, take a trip to the top of a New York City skyscraper and join Peter Craig and me in a game of World Domination :)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting, too!
:)

Dubai Photo Story said...

Love that interpretation!!!! :-)

Anonymous said...

On my annual trip to NY, I do just that. Only this past year did I choose the Empire State Building as my vantage point. It was impressive and worthwhile. However, it will never replace the first time I visited NYC and ascended Top of the Rock. That was amazing! It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.