Take a Walk on the Wild Side: Making ‘Cosmopolis’ Come Alive at 47th & Times Square

Bucky W // July 5, 2012 // no comments
BuckyW Don DeLillo Original Series: "Take a Walk on the Wild Side: 47th St. NYC Photo Diary and Novel Tour

This Times Square post includes the area starting on the east with 6th Ave. (Avenue of the Americas) and Broadway (7th in between); 47th Street is the north portion of Times Square. In our next post, we will be heading to the neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen as we approach 8th Avenue. This is where Eric meets up with Elise at the theatre. Times Square is in the heart of the theatre district.

First the story at this location:
A lot happens in Cosmopolis at Times Square. There is the protest with the giant rat, an attack on Eric’s limo; and he has an extensive conversation with his Chief of Theory, Vija Kinski. Much of this dialogue is included in the film and is quite enlightening, although very philosophical about money and capitalism. It’s not important to understand everything, but it is important to know Eric enjoys these conversations; they are interesting to him, and he respects Vija’s intellect. They speak about the role of money in society, how technology, money, and capitalism are affecting the culture, with a focus on the future infiltrating the present.
“you’re going to need a bigger limo”   YouTube link
Before encountering the rat and the protesters, Eric briefly sees the President of the United States and the two new security guards Torval has called in to protect him from a credible threat (a block past this location he has an encounter with the woman, and he sees the “A Specter is Haunting the World” on an electronic billboard.)
This appears behind the
“Specter” billboard seen in the film
There are probably few people in the world who haven’t at least seen photos of Times Square, since it is one of the most photographed sites in the world. If you’ve never been, it’s fantastic, especially at night with all the lights, neon colors, and moving and changing images. Even during the day it’s fun. There’s so much activity, people in line to buy discount theatre tickets, shopping, hanging in the pedestrian area, people-watching. There are some interesting people to watch, too, such as the “naked cowboy” who wears only white briefs, plays guitar, and makes his money taking pictures with tourists, and the guy who stands around with a sign asking for donations so he can buy some weed. He has his own website, too. He encouraged me to post his picture and poster, but not sure I should be advertising for him on this site!
No show of underwear gods this day for me…. (just the naked cowboy)
“…in the shadows of the underwear gods that adorned the soaring billboards.”
The look of the electronic billboards change constantly
These pictures are from a routine weekday afternoon. The scene with the protesters attacking the limo happens around the Doubletree, Sbarro, and the Broadway ticket booth.
“Directly in front of him, what? People on the traffic island
buying discount theatre tickets.”
We see the Doubletree and Sbarro in the film
Because Vija’s and Eric’s conversation at Times Square is a pivotal moment in the book (and film), and we’ve heard a number of quotes from it following film promotion, we’ll post some quotes. There are two things Eric hears Vija say that start to change his perspective. We may write a SPOTLIGHT post on it in the future, about the conversation, and what Eric reacts to. 
In the film, Eric’s conversation with Vija is in three parts, interrupted with scenes of the protest outside, a brief conversation with Torval at the window, and Eric seeing his two additional bodyguards.

“Because time is a corporate asset now. It belongs to the free market system. The present is harder to find.” 
“The future becomes insistent. This is why something will happen soon, maybe today.” 
“Because money has taken a turn. All wealth has become wealth for its own sake.” 
“Money has lost its narrative quality the way painting did once upon a time. Money is talking to itself.” 
“The more visionary the idea, the more people it leaves behind.” “The urge to destroy is a creative urge.” 
“People will not die. Isn’t this the creed of the new culture? People will be absorbed into streams of information.”
“There was an isolated disturbance outside
the Nasdaq Center a few blocks away.”
  • As the limo enters the Times Square area after crossing 6thAvenue, Eric is reflecting on an earlier time in his career, when he was forecasting stocks, when his touting of a stock or technology sector would cause market effects. He thinks how he was making history, “before history became monotonous and slobbering.” He moved to currency trading and “he found beauty and precision here, hidden rhythms on the fluctuation of a given currency.”
  • In his conversation with his Chief of Theory, Eric shows how enthralled he is with big picture concepts, with the philosophical nature of the world of money and capitalism.
  • There are two exchanges where Eric reacts to Vija’s comments; they clearly have an effect on him. One has to do with the discussion about random forces affecting Eric’s work, and the other their different reactions to one of the protesters.

 

Looking South into Times Square (as Eric does); towards NASDAQ center

 

‘I see Eric changed in some way after this experience in Times Square:

“But it was the threat of death at the brink of night that spoke to him more surely about some principle of fate he’d always know would come clear in time. Now he could begin the business of living.”


Next stop:
Between Broadway and 8th Ave., where Eric sees Elise by the theatre, has dinner, and then attends to rave at the Biltmore.

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