This video of an a capella singing group's spontaneous performance in the Paris Metro made me think about how this interaction was a truly "urban" performance, that could only happen in the subways of a large metropolitan area. What was it really? A spontaneous performative act for a captive, transient audience. What was different about this from, say, a pop up ad for an album, or a blow-in in a magazine, or some other intrusive form of advertisement? Not much, except it surprised many people and engaged them, and I daresay it warmed some of their hearts.
And then I thought, some people (say those visiting from the suburbs) would have found the interaction off-putting and a violation of their desire for peace and quiet, a difference pointed out to me by my mother when I sent her this article recently about a suburban couple moving to a big city (Seattle) and loving it.
Urban living, as I see it, widens the spectrum of human encounters and by nature increases our tolerance for our fellow man, whereas the suburbs enforce a kind of retreat by making people withdraw into cars, limiting daily interaction with the world, and creating unnatural echo chambers that shut out the din of the real world.
