Gotham: 19 Easter Eggs, In-Jokes And References You Totally Missed
12. Mayor James Is Basically Rudy Giuliani
In the DC Universe, the United States is populated by cities which are loosely based on actual American locations. Green Arrow's home of Star City (by the coast and with a famous suspension bridge) is San Francisco, The Flash's Central City is in Ohio, and Superman's Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night. Some will argue with that latter concept introduced by Dark Knight Returns creators Frank Miller with claims Gotham is actually Chicago. Christopher Nolan shot the Dark Knight films there, after all. The skyline is clearly New York all over, though, and Gotham films in the city. The show has also made the comparisons all the more concrete. Introducing a bit of real-world contemporary commentary into the show, the corrupt and morally dodgy Mayor James is shown in the episode Selina Kyle to basically be an analogue of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, since both instigated a scheme to send their city's homeless upstate to clear the streets and try and reduce crime statistics.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
