New York City is the best city in the world. I should know, I have lived here most of my life. During those few years spent away from the city, there was no place I thought of more. I've watched the city change through good and bad times; people, fads, and even whole structures have come and gone. But one thing remains, as sure as the sun rises and falls everyday: television and movies seem to depict life in New York City a lot different than the average city dweller experiences it. Here are some things I think New Yorkers will notice are absent from the big and small screen depictions of life in the Big Apple.

Life Outside Manhattan

This should be what most New Yorkers expected to see on the list. For decades, the big and small screens have focused on Manhattan, the borough some New Yorkers call "the city". Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge (which connects Brooklyn to Manhattan), Rockefeller Center, and the Empire State Building are just some of the heavily reused locations in TV and movies. Oh, and let's not forget Times Square and the wide shots of the Manhattan skyline. Even the characters featured in most of New York-based stories seem to live in Manhattan, too. Now Manhattan is wonderful, and I feel happy knowing I that I can visit whenever I please, but it isn't all New York has to offer by far.

New York City is composed of the five boroughs (and some might argue Long Island, but they'd be wrong): Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, and of course Manhattan. The truth is that each of these places have something worth bringing to film. There are so many diverse communities and cultures within each borough that go neglected in TV and film that it baffles me why we don't see more of them featured. Are there people who live their lives exclusively in Manhattan? Sure. Is that the place where some of the New York City's most iconic places are? Of course. But NYC wouldn't be NYC without all parts of it, and it's time that was reflected.

The Filth

There are very few movies and TV shows that accurately communicate just how dirty the city can get. Off the top of my head, I can name the late 70's movie "The Warriors" as one that does a good job showing the city in all its dirty glory. But that movie is decades old, and recent works tend to subtly paint the picture that New York is all glitz and glamour--without the grime New Yorkers know so well. Don't get me wrong, there are some pristine areas in the city, but for the most part, the place is nowhere near as clean as some other major cities around the world, and definitely not as filth-free as the big and small screens suggest.

Ever wondered what roasting garbage smells like on a hot and humid summer day, or urine of the canine kind when it rains smells like, or the many flavors of homeless that are available for your olfactory senses to consume? Well just take a stroll through almost any NYC neighborhood and you're bound to experience these things firsthand. New York City hosts a smorgasbord of nostril twisting scents that'll get your gag reflex going into high gear. It's not just the smells either that contribute to the filth in the city. Storms, parades, events, and even good ol' neighborly courtesy are major contributors to the trash problem in the city. Why carry your trash to an empty receptacle when you can just leave it on the floor and make it someone else's problem, right?

I get it. It's a city, and by nature, that means there will be more people in tighter spaces, vying for the same resources and producing more trash and filth per person than a less populated place. Still though...lots of other major cities seem to get it right with the cleanliness (ever see Singapore's laws on litter?). My hats off to the city sanitation department, as well as the people employed in the city to make it a cleaner place. Hats off to whoever cleans up the filthiest of streets before the film crew go in and start shooting!

The Homeless Problem

Now after talking about filth, it's only fitting that I speak about another misrepresentation in film and TV: the homeless population in NYC. Unlike some of the other points on this list, this one actually does get a fair amount of screen time in film and television. Numerous shows and films feature a homeless character in some way or another, most often for comic relief in my experience. The Adam Sandler movie "Big Daddy" comes to mind; with actor Steve Buscemi playing a homeless guy. As funny as he is in the role, his portrayal, like some of the other homeless person roles I've seen over the years don't accurately reflect what's going on with homelessness in NYC right now.

There are far more homeless people in the city than just your neighborhood vagrant. It's not surprising for a New Yorker to encounter several during a commute at any time, especially in the subway during the winter, as it becomes a haven from exposure to the brutal elements a person without shelter has to deal with above ground. They're in the subway cars--usually with at least half of it to themselves thanks to the wide berth given by strap-hangers, on park benches, laying on sewer grates, squatting beneath scaffoldings, or lingering pretty much anywhere that'll likely keep them as warm and dry as they can get. It's rare to see them chatting with anyone (other than to beg for help), other than to no one in particular, and they certainly aren't making light of their own condition. In fact, in my more than twenty years being in this city I've encountered only one overly charismatic vagrant during a commute, who rather than be miserable, made jokes and puns about himself. Sadly, it was that day I also saw nearly all the people on the train open their purses or wallets to help; the fact that he seemed to have entertained everyone couldn't have been a coincidence.

There are numerous shelters in the city available to the homelessness to seek shelter or aid, but these places have limited space and face a wealth of problems. The shelters are strict, requiring residents to return to the shelters by a certain time to keep a spot, which can be a bit difficult for those who have to travel to visit loved ones or to attend programs designed to help them out of their homeless situation. The shelters can also house mentally ill, or people with disagreeable dispositions, who aren't opposed to theft, violence, or worse. These factors keep many homeless, particularly women, out of shelters and on the streets, as the choice to may be safer in the long run. The big and small screens can do far better in conveying these truths.

Courtesy NYC Style

I remember watching Spiderman and Spiderman 2 starring Tobey Maguire from the early 2000's. In both movies during a major fight between Spiderman and the antagonists from the respective films, there are scenes in which New Yorkers come together showing solidarity, and their will to save their friendly neighborhood Spiderman from harm. Touching scenes that warm the heart, sure, but a bit inaccurate as far as portraying New Yorkers' attitudes towards helping a stranger--even one of Spiderman's character. New Yorkers are known to band together during a crisis, but situations like that (such as 9/11) are so terrible that what else can be done except band together? That being said, crises don't happen everyday, and New Yorkers outside of the big and small screens can certainly do better in the courtesy department.

A colleague from the deep south once confessed that he thought all northerners are rude pigs, especially after an extended stay in New York. This was several years ago, and of course, feeling indignant, I told him he got a bad taste of New York. It's better than that.... It's not. Drivers on the road cut other drivers off without a thought, don't signal, and swerve around corners with speeds that should make the pedestrian think twice about walking unawares. Speaking of pedestrians, people--walls of people--walk side by side creating impenetrable barriers of flesh, often while the majority of them are lost in their phones and oblivious. On the subway, there are seat hogs in various forms, break dancers, starving musicians, and people who can't figure out whether they should use headphones or turn the volume down on their media devices. The list goes on.The point I'm trying to make is this: New Yorkers could use a major lesson in courtesy. TV and movies don't even scratch the surface in depicting this issue.

There are other things the big and small screens can portray more accurately when it comes to life in New York, but for the most part, I'm at least content to know that mine is one of the cities the media loves to focus on. Hopefully in the future some things will be less fictitious and more real.