History Main / TheBigRottenApple

* ''Film/AfterHours''' entire plot revolves around a [[KafkaKomedy Kafka-esque]], nightmarish ride through the [=SoHo=] district in the dead of night, where every citizen still awake at best don't care about [[CosmicPlaything Paul Hackett's]] plight and at absolute worst [[ChasedByAngryNatives want him very, very dead]].

* One season 2 episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Exosquad}}'' has JT crash land in a bombed-out New York, now a virtual ghost town after the Neosapiens took over. Fortunately, a helpful ex-cabbie ends up assisting him, though JT ends up [[MonumentalDamage blowing up Lady Liberty's torch]] to get rid of a stubborn Neo Warrior.

* The Wallflower's "6th Avenue Heartache," which makes that part of midtown out to be a gritty and seedy part of town. It may have been when the song was written (when the mess singer was a teenager), but is now a gentrified and largely commercial thoroughfare.

On the flip side, this massive and relatively sudden outflux of people led to a rapidly deteriorating tax base (New York City was ''barely'' brought back from the brink of bankruptcy in 1975), causing government corruption, neglect, and lack of city maintenance. The 1970s and the early '80s were without a doubt the peak of this decay, which is why this trope peaked in that period. By the late '80s and early '90s the cities had started to slowly recover, white flight slowed somewhat, and unemployment had fallen, but they were still scarred from the problems, such as crime, so this trope was still decently prevalent, but not anywhere near as much as previously.

However, by the 1990s, cities in the United States (and European ones) had mostly recovered, with populations stabilizing or increasing again, crime and pollution plummeting, poverty falling, and blight mostly recovering. At the same time, many of the problems that cities had (poverty, crime, corruption, racial division) had slowly started to creep in the suburbs as well. Some cities obviously recovered more than others: [[UsefulNotes/StLouis many]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} smaller]] [[UsefulNotes/{{KansasCity}} cities]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Milwaukee}} in the]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}} Midwest]] only slightly recovered and are nowhere close to their peaks in the early and mid-20th century, while New York City has arguably [[GoneHorriblyRight recovered a bit too well]], such that many working-class people have left for cheaper places to live as gentrification drove land values (and with them rents and property taxes) ever higher. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, it was the cities of the West Coast that got the reputation as dysfunctional: UsefulNotes/LosAngeles with gang violence and the Rodney King riots, UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco with its housing crisis,[[note]]Thanks to the tech industry boom, housing prices are so expensive that even if you're already rich, you'll find house-hunting to be almost impossible[[/note]] UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} and UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} with their [[BombThrowingAnarchists violent anarchist protests]], and all of them with a homelessness crisis. Despite this, many people who grew up in the 1960s and '70s still believe New York City is like this because of what [[RealityIsUnrealistic pop culture told them during their formative years]].

* This trope appears in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'''s backstory: As the crime rate continued to rise across the US into the 90s and 00s (unlike in RealLife where they promptly began falling), New York City became crippled by internal strife. In 2012, the teamsters went on strike and the ensuing food riots made sections of the city descended into anarchy, leading to the [[AlternateHistory Seretech Decision]] when rioters attacked a medical lab and corporate security responded with deadly force. Then, the city was flattened by an earthquake. The rebuilt New York City featuring in the current game-verse averts the trope ''heavily''... on the surface. While Manhattan is a shiny paragon of a city, it's illegal to go anywhere in the city without flagging your legal government ID (so if you don't have one, which many people in the setting do not, you are committing a crime just by existing), and the NYPD basically disbanded and reformed as a corporation when most other US-municipal cities sold out their police forces to a national private force like Lone Star. As such, shadowrunners have to be extremely careful if they want to get anything done in the city.

* A background theme of ''Series/MadMen'' is the decline of New York City during the 1960s. In season 2 (set in 1962), 22 year old Peggy's biggest concern about riding the subway alone at night was that [[AluminumChristmasTrees the bamboo seats]] would ruin her stockings. In season 6 (set in 1968), sirens play in the background of almost every scene, the Drapers' Upper East Side penthouse is robbed, and Peggy's boyfriend is stabbed while waiting at a bus station near their home on the Upper West Side.

* Creator/HPLovecraft was a firm beliver in this trope, partially caused by his rather extreme racism and his unpleasant experience staying in New York for a few years in the 1920's. Several of his more controversial stories, such as ''The Horror At Red Hook'', ''He'', and the nearly impossible to find ''The Street'' were based on this trope. In one scene the protagonist is shown New York in its colonial past, which borders on a {{utopia}} that even the BigBad misses, and then its far future where it's become a terrifying WretchedHive overrun by "sinister orientals".

However, by the 1990s, cities in the United States (and European ones) had mostly recovered, with populations stabilizing or increasing again, crime and pollution plummeting, poverty falling, and blight mostly recovering. At the same time, many of the problems that cities had (poverty, crime, corruption, racial division) had slowly started to creep in the suburbs as well. Some cities obviously recovered more than others: [[UsefulNotes/StLouis many]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} smaller]] [[UsefulNotes/{{KansasCity}} cities]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Milwaukee}} in the]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}} Midwest]] only slightly recovered and are nowhere close to their peaks in the early and mid-20th century, while New York City has arguably [[GoneHorriblyRight recovered a bit too well]], such that many working-class people have left for cheaper places to live as gentrification drove land values (and with them rents and property taxes) ever higher. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, it was the cities of the West Coast that got the reputation as dysfunctional: UsefulNotes/LosAngeles with gang violence and the Rodney King riots, UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco with its housing crisis,[[note]]Thanks to the tech industry boom, housing prices are so expensive that even if you're already rich, you'll find house-hunting to be almost impossible[[/note]] UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} and UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} with their violent anarchist protests, and all of them with a homelessness crisis. Despite this, many people who grew up in the 1960s and '70s still believe New York City is like this because of what [[RealityIsUnrealistic pop culture told them during their formative years]].

On the flip side, this massive and relatively sudden outflux of people led to a rapidly deteriorating tax base (New York City was BARELY brought back from the brink of bankruptcy in 1975), causing government corruption, neglect, and lack of city maintenance. The 1970s and the early 80s were without a doubt the peak of this decay, which is why this trope peaked in that period. By the mid-1980s to early-90s the cities had started to slowly recover, white flight slowed somewhat, and unemployment had fallen, but the cities were still scarred from the problems, such as crime, so this trope was still decently prevalent, but not anywhere near as much as previously.

However, by the 1990s, cities in the United States (and European ones) had mostly recovered, with populations stabilizing or increasing again, crime and pollution plummeting, poverty falling, and blight mostly recovering. At the same time, many of the problems that cities had (poverty, crime, corruption, racial division) had slowly started to creep in the suburbs as well. Some cities obviously recovered more than others: [[UsefulNotes/StLouis many]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} smaller]] [[UsefulNotes/{{KansasCity}} cities]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Milwaukee}} in the]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}} Midwest]] only slightly recovered and are nowhere close to their peaks in the early and mid-20th century, while New York City has arguably [[GoneHorriblyRight recovered a bit too well]], such that many working-class people have left for cheaper places to live as gentrification drove land values (and with them rents and property taxes) ever higher. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, it was the cities of the West Coast that got the reputation as dysfunctional: UsefulNotes/LosAngeles with gang violence and the Rodney King riots, UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco with its housing crisis - where house prices are so expensive that even if you're already rich, you'll find househunting to be almost impossible - and massive homelessness problem, and UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} with its violent anarchist protests and homelessness crisis. Despite this, many people who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s still believe New York City is like this because of what [[RealityIsUnrealistic pop culture told them during their formative years]].

* ''Manga/{{Mad Bull 34}}'' portrays the Big Apple as a crime-ridden hellhole, where the only difference between the criminals and the police are uniforms.

* ''{{ComicBook/Transmetropolitan}}'': The City is a conglomeration of the East Coast's cities. As Spider demonstrates, living there sucks if you aren't part of the rich people (especially those without makers, devices that convert regular matter to household objects), mentioning that there are some diseases that exist only in the City and Third World countries.

* ''Film/JoesApartment''. The eponymous hero gets mugged three times in a row. ..Before leaving ''the bus station''.

** ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'': where New York ended up getting so bad by the 1990s that the (admittedly rather fascistic) government just gave up on it, turned it into America's only maximum security prison, and just started dumping ''all'' the country's criminals in there.
** ''Film/SoylentGreen'': where New York is hugely overcrowded as a result of the global population swelling by 400%. Shortages and civic unrest are endemic.

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'', [[Film/GhostbustersII its sequel]], and ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame''. Diners at Tavern on the Green ignore a panicked Louis Tully as a Terror Dog possesses him; the combined negativity of the city's denizens manifests as a river of slime; the city is routinely attacked by ghosts of its own homeless and construction-workers...the list goes on and on. Worst of all is the feeling of a city without spiritual direction, and the city's only contact with the other side is mischievous at best and outright malevolent at worst. Subverted in the sequel's climax, when the Ghostbusters use the Statue of Liberty to awaken the good feelings lurking beneath New York's crusty exterior and combat the slime's negative influence. It's toned down in [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 2016}} the 2016 version]], reflecting how this became a DiscreditedTrope in the intervening years; one gag has the new gang trying to buy the iconic firehouse from the original film, only to find that rent is over $20,000 a month, forcing them to establish their headquarters above a Chinese restaurant instead.

* ''Film/SummerOfSam'' Although based on a true story, the movie follows a fictional plot too, with almost all the characters (predominantly Italian-Americans) having bad attitudes, direct frankness, sarcasm, accusing each other of being the killer, being rude and insulting to a promiscuous girl (who is more than capable of standing up for herself) and bullying a punk rocker due to him not conforming to their macho behaviour.

* Given the fact it's ''Main/DarkerAndEdgier'' than the first film, ''Film/HomeAlone2'' features Kevin walking at the night in a [[WorldOfJerkass city full of Jerkasses]], what, cause you know, is this. Bonus points for being a live-action film-sized variant of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode where Homer traveled to that city in hope to seek his avariated car.

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' toned it down somewhat, given that it's based more on the "cleaned-up" New York of Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg rather than the WretchedHive that it was in TheSeventies and TheEighties. Of course, this means that this trope has been replaced with stereotypes of ''modern'' New York, such as the city's gentrification into TheThemeParkVersion of itself, its "nanny state" attitude to things like guns and junk food, and its post-September 11th police presence.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E1TheCityOfNewYorkVsHomerSimpson The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson]]", Homer tells about a previous visit to New York during the 70s when this trope was in full force. A pickpocket stole his wallet, a police officer stole his suitcase, a pigeon stole his hot dog, Creator/WoodyAllen dumped garbage on his head, and he got chased through the streets by an angry pimp until he fell in a sewer.

* ''WesternAnimation/CampCandy'': When John attends a convention in New York City, a thief immediately takes all his money. Things do downhill from there.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'': Joseph "Hammerhead" Martello, the BigBad of the ''City That Never Sleeps'' DLC is a DiscoDan Maggia[[labelnote:*]]the Marvel universe's stand-in for the Mafia[[/labelnote]] boss who fondly remembers this era of New York's history as a time when mobsters like him were feared, respected and untouchable by the law, and deeply resents the modern day Maggia's slow, ignominious decline. With the main game's threats handled and the EvilPowerVacuum created by Kingpin's arrest still looming, Hammerhead's decided that it's his time to [[EvilReactionary "bring back the good ol' days"]] and reassert the Maggia's dominance over the city.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'': Joseph "Hammerhead" Martello, the BigBad of the ''City That Never Sleeps'' DLC is a DiscoDan Maggia[[labelnote:*]]the Marvel universe's stand-in for the Mafia[[/labelnote]] boss who fondly remembers this era of New York's history as a time when mobsters like him were feared, respected and untouchable by the law, and deeply resents the Maggia's slow, ignominious decline. With the main game's villains taken care of, and the EvilPowerVacuum brought on by the collapse of the Kingpin's criminal empire yet to be filled, he's decided that it's his time to [[EvilReactionary "bring back the good ol' days"]] and reassert the Maggia's dominance over the city.

* Creator/HPLovecraft was a firm beliver in this trope, partially caused by his rather extreme racism and his unpleasant experience staying in New York for a few years in the 1920's. Several of his more controversial stories, such as ''The Horror At Red Hook'', ''He'', and the nearly impossible to find ''The Street'' were based on this trope. In one scene the protagonist is shown New York in it's colonial past, which borders on a MarySueTopia that even the BigBad misses, and then it's far future where it's become a terrifying WretchedHive overrun by "sinister orientals".

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'': Joseph "Hammerhead" Martello, the BigBad of the ''City That Never Sleeps'' DLC is a DiscoDan Maggia[[labelnote:*]]the Marvel universe's stand-in for the Mafia[[/labelnote]] boss who fondly remembers this era of New York's history because it was when mobsters like him were feared, respected and untouchable by the law, and deeply resents the Maggia's slow ignominious decline since. With the main game's villains taken care of and Kingpin's more modern corpo-criminal empire starting to collapse, he's decided that it's time to [[EvilReactionary "bring back the good ol' days"]] and reassert the Maggia's dominance over the city.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'': Joseph "Hammerhead" Martello, the BigBad of the ''City That Never Sleeps'' DLC is a DiscoDan Maggia[[labelnote:*]]the Marvel universe's stand-in for the Mafia[[/labelnote]] boss who deeply misses this era of New York's history precisely because it was when mobsters like him were feared, respected and untouchable by the law, and therefore resents the Maggia's slow decline into irrelevance. With the main game's villains taken care of and Kingpin's more modern corpo-criminal empire beginning to collapse, he's decided that it's time to [[EvilReactionary "bring back the good ol' days"]] and reassert the Maggia's dominance over the city.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'': Joseph "Hammerhead" Martello, the BigBad of the ''City That Never Sleeps'' DLC is a DiscoDan Maggia[[labelnote:*]]the Marvel universe's stand-in for the Mafia[[/labelnote]] boss who deeply misses this era of New York's history precisely because it was when mobsters like him were feared, respected and untouchable by the law, and therefore resents the Maggia's slow decline into irrelevance. With the main game's villains taken care of and Kingpin's more modern corpo-criminal empire entering its own slow decline, he's decided that it's time to [[EvilReactionary turn back the clock]] and reassert the Maggia's dominance over New York City once again, no matter the cost.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'': The BigBad of the ''City That Never Sleeps'' DLC is Joseph "Hammerhead" Martello, a DiscoDan Maggia[[labelnote:*]]the Marvel universe's stand-in for the Mafia[[/labelnote]] boss who deeply misses this era of New York's history precisely because it was when mobsters like him were feared, respected and untouchable, and resents the Maggia's slow decline into irrelevance. With the main game's villains taken care of and Wilson Fisk's more modern criminal empire entering its own slow decline, he's decided that it's his time to [[EvilReactionary turn back the clock]] and put New York City back under the Maggia's heel again, no matter the cost.

-->-- '''Music/TheRollingStones''', [[Music/SomeGirls "Shattered"]]

* "Shattered" by Music/TheRollingStones (quoted at the top).

The Big Rotten Apple trope can come into play in any story set during the city's existence (you'll also sometimes see this trope in stories set in late 19th Century/Gilded Age New York, when high crime, overcrowding and income inequality led to similar stories and situations), but this has mostly become a DeadHorseTrope unless one is doing a period piece, as this was mostly TruthInTelevision from the late 1960s to the early 1990s.

* ''Film/{{Joe}}'' is about a vigilante in a crime-ridden, dirty 1970s New York.

* ''Music/{{Foreigner}}'': "Long, Long Way From Home" is about leaving a small town for "the apple in decay" and winding up alone in a sea of millions of people and longing for home.

* [[Music/{{Scorpions}} The Scorpions]] song ''The Zoo'' is about hanging out in and around Times Square in Manhattan when it was a red light district; it directly references 42nd Street. Listeners who grew up in the '90s and later, even those who grew up ''in New York'', however, will require a history lesson to get why they'd call this area a Zoo, unless they were talking about the award winning plays and tourists.

* Creator/HPLovecraft was a firm beliver in this trope, partially caused by his rather extreme racism and his unpleasant experience staying in New York for a few years in the 1920's. Several of his more controversial stories, such as ''The Horror At Red Hook'', ''He'', and the nearly impossible to find ''The Street'' were based on this trope. ''He'' takes it UpToEleven in one scene where the protagonist is shown New York in it's colonial past, which borders on a MarySueTopia that even the BigBad misses, and then it's far future where it's become a terrifying WretchedHive overrun by "sinister orientals".