Celluloid Seattle: A City at the Movies was the first exhibit to examine the city’s relationship with film. Curated by celebrated Seattle critic Robert Horton, this unique exhibition explored both the image of Seattle captured in films, and how the idea of going to the movies has changed in the city over the years.
From a far-flung Western outpost to being hip, grunge-loving and trendy, Seattle’s image in the movie imagination has changed over the years. Likewise, the city’s residents’ movie-going habits have changed with popular culture from the grand single-screen downtown palaces to mega-multiplexes and back to the intimate theaters of nonprofit film societies.
Along with film clips and historic artifacts, the exhibit allowed visitors to truly engage with the historic movie experience through a set of recreated mini-theatres, interactive games, and activity kiosks.
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Seattle Through Film
A City at the Movies
Through the mini-theatres, interactive games, and activity kiosks featured at the exhibit, visitors can experience historical films and television shows and their depiction of Seattle throughout the following historical eras.
The Far City
Seattle was initially represented as a gritty frontier town, but that all changed with the 1962 World’s Fair. Seattle based films from this time period and highlighted at the exhibit include Edison shorts, Tugboat Annie, The Far Country, North to Alaska, and It Happened at the World’s Fair.
The Streetwise City
In the 1970s and 80s, depictions of Seattle changed from economically-strapped and scruffy to a stylish film-noir setting. Seattle based films from this time period and highlighted at the exhibit include McQ, Scorchy, Harry and the Hendersons, Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Parallax View, Cinderella Liberty, Streetwise, American Heart, Fabulous Baker Boys, House of Games, Trouble in Mind, and The Slender Thread.
The Sleepless City
At the turn of the 1990s, Seattle suddenly became hip, and movies followed to take advantage of it’s it factor. Seattle based films from this time period and highlighted at the exhibit include Say Anything…, Georgia, Life or Something Like It, Sleepless in Seattle, Disclosure, Firewall, Assassins, The Ring, Mad Love, Singles, The Vanishing, 10 Things I Hate About You, Highway, Eclipse, Love Happens, Austin Powers, the spy who shagged me, 50/50, and Chronicle
The Indie Seattle
Seattle has always had its homegrown filmmakers who have created their own authentic versions of the city. Seattle based films from this time period and highlighted at the exhibit include Black and Decker Hedgetrimmer Murders, Beyond Kabuki, Shredder Orpheus, Hype!, Money Buys Happiness, Inlaws and Outlaws, The Business of Fancydancing, Buffalo Bill’s Defunct, Police Beat, The Heart of the Game, Outsourced, Great Speeches from a Dying World, Humpday, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, Wheedle’s Groove, About a Son, Pearl Jam Twenty by Cameron Crowe, and Grassroots
The Prime Time City
Television has also had its hand in imagining Seattle, although it followed the same path as movies and Hollywood. Television shows that have featured Seattle and that are featured in the exhibit include Here Come the Brides, The Night Strangler, Twin Peaks, Frasier, Rose Red, Grey’s Anatomy, Dark Angel, The Killing, and The Simpsons.
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