The Representation of Urban Surface Culture in Asphalt (1929)

Abstract The essay analyzes the film, Joe May’s Asphalt (1929), with specific attention to the representation of the city in the film, emphasizing the role of urban experience in the 1920s and the psychology of the city. This essay explores the novel and superficial experience of the metropolis in Asphalt and the ways in which it captures modern urban surface culture within its historical and cultural dynamic. The essay ultimately argues that surface matters. The superficiality that pervades in the film can represent modern urban experience, one that is increasingly dominated by visual surfaces. Foregrounding the city and the heroine’s urban experiences, this essay discusses the ways in which the film valorizes “surface culture” as opposed to moral “depth.”