We suspect the Joker is behind a proposal from New York City Councilman Hiram Monserrate of Queens to designated “Gotham City” as New York’s official nickname. You might have believed “The Big Apple” was already getting the job done, but apparently nobody ever wasted enough time and taxpayer dollars to make it official.
Moserrate’s motivation (if not in fact supervillain induced) is the imminent release of The Dark Knight, the latest Batman adventure to take place in the suspiciously New York-like metropolis of Gotham. “I see that as a marketing tool,” says Moserrate in the Village Voice. “‘Come visit the real Gotham City,’ taking advantage of this movie which will be one of those gate-breaking, record-selling movies like it always is,” Despite the fact that Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins sequel was primarily shot in Chicago and London, Moserrate insists ““We all understand that Gotham is really about New York.”
Even if we accept the notion that New York City requires a marketing gimmick to attract tourism, is this really the way to go? According to the councilman’s pitch, “When we talk about Gotham we talk about tremendous, tremendous nightlife, restaurants, lounges, clubs and cafes, frappuccinos and everything else that we have in this City, the Village, Queens.” That’s funny, because when we think about the Gotham of Batman mythology, we think of a dark, grimy cesspool of criminal insanity, where your morning frappuccino may well be laced with deadly Joker venom. According to this map of Gotham City, the major tourist attractions include Crime Alley and Arkham Asylum. Isn’t this the image of New York that poor Mayor Giuliani worked so hard to eradicate? Besides, next time a new Superman movie is released, you know there’s going to be another councilman pushing for the nickname Metropolis.