Woody Allen (writer, director and actor in the film) tells a tale of love, friendship, and secrets in his 1979 film Manhattan. The movie follows the recently unemployed character Isaac (played by Woody Allen) and his friends as well as past and present romantic interests; Yale (Michael Murphy), Mary (Diane Keaton), Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), Jill (Meryl Streep), and Emily (Anne Bryne Hoffman). Isaac, aged 42, is romantically involved with a 17 year old, Tracy, who is still a student in high school. He doesn't really see this relationship as one that will go anywhere but continues to date her, even after meeting and falling in love with his best friend, Yale’s, mistress, Mary, although his first impression of her wasn't a good one. The American …show more content…
The “me decade” was one that people had more focus on themselves then on things outside of them or their control (The 1970’s Me Decade, 2002). This decade came from a political and economic change (The 1970’s Me Decade, 2002). Americans had grown used to the economy growing, but around the 1970, the economy hit its peak and it all went downhill from there (The 1970’s Me Decade, 2002). This can be seen in the film Manhattan, where Allen’s character Isaac has a troubling love life. In the film Isaac is dating a young 17 year old, and has an affair with his friend Yale’s mistress. Isaac makes jokes about how crazy his love life is, saying things like, “I’m going out with a girl who does homework.” Woody Allens characters comment directly reflects Allen’s actual life, in his later years he was caught in a scandal where he was accused for molesting his child when she was quite young (Meade, 2000). So, before the scandal even happened, he already had a mindset of being interested in very young girls, as shown in the film. The many relationships that Isaac had in the film was a parallel to Allen’s life, he has been married three times as well as had a few other long term relationships (Meade, 2000). Allen talked about how he believed that life is very much about luck, that …show more content…
Isaacs ex-wife wrote a very descriptive book about her marriage and messy divorce with him, and gave out very personal information to the world about him. Another example of loosening morals, Isaacs ex-wife is showing that she cares more about how some good gossip will increase her wealth through books sales than how spreading this gossip will affect the people around her. Woody Allens character commented on the cause of the loosening of morals at the beginning of the film, a “lack of individual integrity to cause so many people to take the easy way out,” and “society (was) desensitized by drugs, loud music, television, crime,