Course Info

5 video lessons (29 Mins)
Published
1963
4.07

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Browse Course Chapters

1.

Introduction

1 min
2.

The City as Heaven on Earth

6 mins
3.

The City as a Magnet

3 mins
4.

The City in History

10 mins
5.

The Promise of the City

6 mins

Course Description

This short documentary film is the first part of a larger series hosted by Lewis Mumford, an American historian, sociologist, philosopher, and literary critic, who wrote the book The City in History on which this film is based. The film originally aired in 1963.

This first film in the series uses historic footage from all over the world for a kind of meditative effect, punctuated with Mumford's philosophical observations on the past, present, and future of cities. Eventually the film focuses on a historical account of the rise of cities some 5,000 years ago, and a dire warning about the potential of nuclear holocaust to undo and erase both the past and the future of cities. The theme tying together this chapter of the larger series is the history of cities as ground for the creation of sacred elements, and the meaning that comes from faith in the life-enhancing elements of the city. These sacred elements of cities embody both the creative and the destructive elements of cities, and represent the dual potential of human life when it gathers in cities.

Warning: Some graphic images appear in the ending of "The City in History"