Why was NYC so much safer in years past?
I'm always hearing about how safe it was "way back when," as with this film.
Well, I want to know why. Why was it safer pre-1960 or whatever, in simple, straightforward answers.
Thanks.
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MovieChat Forums > Little Fugitive (1953) Discussion > Why was NYC so much safer in years past?...
I don't think it was safe, there was still crime back then. Mostly one worried about theft, not murder or kidnapping. Kids were relatively safe as adults watched out for them even if they didn't know them. Neighborhoods were more homogeneous so if one stuck to one's own or those similar, one didn't fear as much. As the city changed, the neighborhood feeling of watching out for each other changed and then came incidents like the Kitty Genovese case.
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It's difficult to know if NYC, and everywhere else, was safer at the time Little Fugitive was filmed. There were sordid crimes back then. But who can say if there were more. Today, everything is reported, with 24hr news channels, Internet news sources, millions upon millions of actualities, video and still pix, posted from cellphones, etc. 50 years ago it wasn't unusual for kids to go about unsupervised. Today, parents would be shamed if they didn't keep a hawk's eye on their children. Would Joey fare any worse by himself adrift on Coney Island today? I'd bet not. What would certainly be different is his Mom would have never left her kids alone overnight without risking Social Services intervening for abandonment. And the kindly Pony Ride guy would have had to have had a backstory establishing he wasn't a covert pedophile. I'll pose it this way: Were there less incidents of child abuse by Priests back then? Of course not. We chose not to see it. Today we are more aware, and perhaps more hysterical too.
shareI'm always hearing about how safe it was "way back when," as with this film.
Well, I want to know why. Why was it safer pre-1960 or whatever, in simple, straightforward answers.
I think the WORLD was safer then. I was a Brooklyn kid at the time this film was made and these boy's neighborhood was "rougher" than mine was but it was very identifiable as "real". We had the local "perv's" but we knew where they were and what they might say etc and we knew to stay away from the guy in the parked car etc etc.
I think too that kids could deal with things independantly a bit more back then ... it was before the crazed "never talk to strangers" became heard as "never talk to strangers even if BOTH of your parents are there and you see the person talking to you over and over again .. but I digress !
In short .. it was safer then and people weren't quite as openly hostile to each other as they are now. IMO, anyhow. share