The city,The Intruder...The Vantage Point

Change of activity transforms the space. So does the change of occupant. When a person comes to a place, he comes carrying with himself a baggage consisting of his opinion and his intention. This preoccupation not only influences his perception of the space, but also the way he uses the space. The space, in its physical configuration, remains constant throughout, but this configuration in its elemental state or as a whole, may overpower the person and alter his thoughts, or may remain a mere stack-up of objects which that person can use to his own advantage.

For example, let us consider the moment when an intruder with the intention of bringing the city down is standing at its vantage point. The panoramic view that unfolds before his eyes, the morphology of the city, his constant and curious gaze, and his mindset undergo a multi-dimensional conflict, much prior to the actual combat. It is in conjuring the outcome of this conflict in favour of the city and against the intruder that the architecture can play a big role.

As for depiction in cinema, the differences in say location and effect of vantage points on the respective intruders in the movies The Matrix Reloaded and Waltz with Bashir may be considered. When Neo looks out of a window located at that storey of the tallest building in the city where no elevator goes, the city unfolds itself all around him as a collection of glass boxes overtly lit from inside and the multiple reflections that these create tend to isolate Neo and force him to contemplate his next move. The very fact that this particular storey is inaccessible otherwise and the suspicion that it will be very diligently secured also, standing in this unfamiliar territory the transparency of the built mass and the multiple reflections could also mean an effective surveillance, a suggestion which could be disarming for the intruder let alone unsettling.

However in Waltz with Bashir, when the intruder looks at the city from the river what he sees in general is the darkness that prevails within and around the buildings. There is very little light from the flashes which cause a reflection of the city edge in the water which extends till his own feet. The opacity of this edge therefore reveals very little of what lies inside the city, thus building up a mystery and unfamiliarity generated caution in mind of the intruder. More than that, this city does not offer any inhibition to the intruder.

The very fact that in both the cases story demanded that the character in question, being protagonist himself, continues his quest, this adversity of the architectural setting as suggested to them within a moment at the vantage point of their respective courses, which they do overcome and thereby establish their own strength and mental steel in the mind of the viewer. Therefore, at the threshold of the vantage point it is the architecture of the city that builds up the character of the intruder.