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The Pruitt-Igoe Myth

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The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History
Directed byChad Freidrichs
Written byChad Freidrichs, Jaime Freidrichs
Release dates
  • February 11, 2011 (2011-02-11) (United States)
  • September 18, 2012 (2012-09-18) (Taiwan)
[1]
Running time
79 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$44,683[2]

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth is a 2011 documentary film detailing the history of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex in St. Louis, Missouri, and the eventual decision to implode the entire complex in 1976.

Plot

The film begins with a former resident of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex returning to the site of the buildings in the north side of St. Louis, and noting that in spite of the decades since the planned demotion of the buildings, the site remains largely vacant. It continues by detailing the decision by the city to replace 19th century tenement housing with high-rise public housing, ultimately designed by Minoru Yamasaki (later the famed designer of the the World Trade Center) in the modernist style as thirty-three 11-floor buildings.[3] Interviews with former residents, archival images, and film are used to tell first impressions about moving into Pruitt-Igoe and the steady deterioration of living conditions during the 1960s and early 1970s before being destroyed by planned implosion between 1972 and 1976.[3][4]

The film takes issue with the various explanations for the failure of the Pruitt-Igoe complex that have developed since the demolition, including that it was the fault of the modernist theory of architecture itself (an explanation developed by archtectural historian Charles Jencks[5]). Instead, the explanation offered is that the fate of the Pruitt-Igoe project was determined by the declining population and industrial base in St. Louis after World War II.[6] This process left limited work for the remaining residents, reducing funds available for maintenance and security of the buildings,[4] which were planned to be paid for by tenant rents even as residents grew poorer and the living conditions in the project decreased.[7]

Reception

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth has a rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes[8] based on 19 reviews, and a rating of 70 (out of 100) on Metacritic based on 8 reviews.[9] It was nominated for a Satellite Award in 2012 in the category of Best Documentary Film.

See Also

References

  1. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1788461/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt
  2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1788461/
  3. ^ a b Michael Kimmelman (2012-01-25). "Towers of Dreams: One Ended in Nightmare". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  4. ^ a b Prospero Books, arts and culture (2011-10-15). "American public housing: Why the Pruitt-Igoe housing project failed". The Economist. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  5. ^ Jencks, Charles (1984). The Language of Post-Modern Architecture. New York: Rizzoli. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-8478-0571-6.
  6. ^ Newgeography.com (2011-01-27). "Shrinking City, Flourishing Region: St. Louis Region". Newgeography.com. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  7. ^ Rachel Saltz (2012-01-19). "A Renewal of Urban History". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  8. ^ "The Pruitt-igoe Myth: An Urban History". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  9. ^ "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth Reviews". Metacritic. 2012-01-20. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
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