At a first glance, you may think that “The Image of the City” is a painfully pretentious and awfully presumptuous pseudo-art house documentary short, and in many respects, you’d be correct.
But what’s also available beneath the seams is a clear parallel of man to every other worker automaton in nature, from the random animal to the average worker ant that familiarizes itself with landmarks and paths, and is somehow conditioned to follow these pre-destined designs to get them to their destination.
In many ways, we are also the worker ants, as Kevin Lynch examines how we’re more so conditioned to follow designs and comfort zones, rather than we are street smart. Much like worker ants of their colonies, Lynch examines how we’re also born with a sense of radar and how the world is more built for the easy ability of production and less for the individual.
Though it’s overbearing in its presentation, “The Image of the City” is a fascinating glimpse at the world we live in and our ever growing connection to the common animal.
