Flâneur

Flâneur

According to the reading, The Flâneur, “the street becomes the dwelling of the flâneur; he is as much at home among the facades of houses as a citizen is in his four walls.”  A flâneur is a stroller.  It comes from the French word flâner meaning to stroll.  A stroller is a person who has experiences as he or she walks through their environment.  According to Walter Benjamin, the invention of the arcades, made the capability to stroll through the city possible.  An arcade is a passageway, often covered, that lines shops and attractions throughout the city.  In the arcade, the flâneur, never becomes bored.  He thrives during the stroll.  He is at home and comfortable.  It is a leisurely activity.  In the 1840s, the flâneur, would take a turtle on his walk.  The turtles set the pace of the walk. 

It is not important if there is other human interaction.  The crowd becomes part of the flâneur’s experience, not the other way around.  The crowd allows the stroller to go about unobserved while he is in fact is observing. 

Similar to The Flâneur, City of Modernity: Shifting Perspectives, Urban Transitions, focuses on the industrialization and development of the city.  George Simmel refers to urban development as bringing new quality to life and therefore changing the development of humans.  Simmel discusses how the advancement of print, electricity and rapid transit affect our sensory life.  He refers to this as the “mental life of the metropolis.”  The three social characters in society react differently.  The  dandy relates in with eccentricity and sophistication.   A blasé attitude is experienced by the snob.  On the other hand, the flâneur, has a combination of the two as he reacts to the development of the city.   The flâneur perceives the changes as a positive.  He is open and eager to experience modernization of his environment.

Modernization of environment

Of the three readings, I enjoyed, The Man of the Crowd, the most.  Unlike the other two, it told a story of a flâneur.  It actually told the story of a flâneur observing a flâneur.  A man sits alone in a café observing the passing crowd.  He wonders about the people passing by and what story belongs to them.  He is, as you say, “judging a book by it cover.”  As evening approaches, he observes an elderly man passing by.  He rushes out the café to follow the man.  He continues to follow the man throughout the night.  He is convinced the man has a criminal background.  Without ever speaking to the man, the observer judges the man’s character and considers him a bad element of society.  He finally approaches the man and looks him in the eye but the man does not seem to notice him at all.  I wondered if the two were not parts of the same man.  Was he looking back at himself?

Man of the crowd

He is a man “of” the crowd.  The reason I bring out the point of the man being “of” the crowd, is because when you read the title of the story, you naturally read, the man “in” the crowd.  I believe there is a big difference between being “of” something or “in” something.   In the recent debate about Rahm Emanuel’s residence requirement to run for Mayor of the City of Chicago, it appeared to come down to wording of the law.  The law stated, to qualify to for candidacy, the person had to be a residence “of” the City of Chicago.  The law did not say, you have to reside “in” the City of Chicago.  To be considered “in” something , it means you are enclosed or a part of it.  To be “of” something means you have origins it.  In the end, Rahm Emanuel was considered to be a residence “of” the City of Chicago and therefore able to run for Mayor.  It is interesting how one preposition can change the entire meaning of a sentence.  It is similar to Poe’s story.   The man was “of” the City not “in” the City.

Today, we are not interested in being flâneurs.  We are constantly trying to figure out the fastest, shortest route to our destination.  We are convinced that there are more important things around the next corner.  Even as a photographer, I forget to view my surroundings as a moment in time.  It is in those moments that I do stop and take it all in, that I truly experience my art.  To the flâneur, the stroll is his drawing, his photograph, it becomes his art.