<p>You know the <em>Tootsie</em> Shot. It’s that image that pops up all the time in movies set in a dense city: a really busy midtown street, everyone going somewhere—and smack in the middle of it all is the protagonist. You can find it in <em>Working Girl, Midnight Cowboy, Wall Street</em>, <em>Heartburn</em>, <em>Elf</em>, <em>Bridget Jones’s Diary</em>, <em>The Devil Wears Prada</em>, <em>The Wolf of Wall Street</em>, and so many more. But while it’s one of the most recognizable camera shots in all of film, it only amounts to a short, transitional moment, often in the middle of a montage, and sometimes lasting for a couple seconds. It is, after all, just someone walking down a crowded street. So why is it so sticky?</p><p>Some of the voices you’ll hear in this episode include James Sanders, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375710272/?tag=slatmaga-20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies</em>;</a> cinematographer Adam Holender; producer <a href="https://twitter.com/annawenger?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Anna Wenger;</a> assistant director Joe Reidy, author <a href="https://twitter.com/heybonanos" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Christopher Bonanos,</a> media and entertainment lawyer Sam Bayard, and location manager Mara Alcaly. Also thanks to Jason Bailey, Sam Levy, Glenn Kenny, Carlo Mirabella-Davis, J.D. Amato, David Sims, Bill Parker, Doug Brody, Sean Fennessey, and Jody Rosen.</p><p>This episode was produced by Willa Paskin and Benjamin Frisch. Decoder Ring is also produced by Max Freedman and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.</p><p>If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[email protected]</a> or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.</p><p>Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>. Or, visit <a href="https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&amp;utm_campaign=plus_pod&amp;utm_content=Decoder_Ring&amp;utm_source=episode_summary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slate.com/decoderplus</a> for access wherever you listen.</p><p>Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our <a href="https://slate.com/podcastfaqs#plusbenefits" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">FAQ</a> at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>