I put this in GQ instead of CS because I’m interested in the possible reality here.
In Woody Allen’s “Manhattan,” Diane Keaton’s character twice uses the phrase “I’m from Philadelphia; we believe in god. We don’t talk about these things.”
The first time is when someone objects to a discussion of the world’s most overrated authors, filmmakers, etc. The second is when the discussion is about orgasms. Both times, Woody Allen’s character expresses mystification about the meaning of the phrase.
What I’m wondering is whether anyone has ever heard such a phrase used in real life and what does it mean. Is it based on some notion that Philadelphians are conservative or unsophisticated?
Yes, I got a laugh out of Diane Keaton’s “Philadelphia” lines in that movie. The city does have a reputation for being very straitlaced and old-fashioned (we have an ongoing “we’re stuffier than you are!” battle with Boston).
Philadelphia atheist checking in… although raised Catholic. This is a very blue collar city, especially when compared with Manhattan. Fewer people move away and fewer people move in than any other city in America; people tend to be tied to their families, schools, religious institutions, etc, at least as much as one can given the state of the American economy (no longer being able to rely on one job most of your life). This was magnified decades ago when the film was made.
I think what you’d find in Center City or University City is the same level of sophistication (if not more so actually; we don’t attract starstruck ambitious wannabes at nearly the same level as NY) as in Manhattan, but obviously at a much smaller scale. We have some impressive and snooty intellectual and social organizations and structures dating back through the last few centuries. But that’s a small area of the city as a whole; most of it is proudly working class, and we have things like the Mummers Parade as a result which you would never see in Manhattan.
This isn’t a common phrase; she could just as easily have said “I’m from Brooklyn, we believe in God.” That would’ve been funnier to me, seeing how close they are geographically but not socially (at the time; now Brooklyn’s getting trendy & old neighborhoods are getting gentrified there too.) There was probably a need for neurotic Jewish Woody to hook up with a tall shiksa for that script, and they probably wanted her not to be Jewish, and not give the movie class or all-New York issues overtones, so making her a Philadelphian - we’re 90 miles away - was a simple way to go.
You could look at it that way, sure. I read it as follows: Woody is so wrapped up in his stereotypical Manhattan/culturally Jewish neuroses and cutting edge discussions of the nature of the universe that he can’t fathom there being Americans who still have a traditional view of the world. She could just as easily have said “I’m from Kansas…” Just about anywhere that isn’t Hollywood, San Francisco/Bay Area, or Las Vegas would’ve made the point. It’s more a commentary about Manhattan (and Woody’s character) than here and her.
I’m not sure I agree. I got the impression that the audience, too, was supposed to be mystified by the “Philadelphia” remark. I certainly was.
In the first instance, in the discussion regarding the “overrated,” Diane Keaton and Michael Murphy were classifying as overrated numerous people – including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ingmar Bergman – that Woody Allen thought were just great. Allen thought Keaton and Murphy were being pretentious and asked to change the subject. That’s when Keaton said “I’m from Philadelphia” – as if, I’m not the type of person who would be saying such pretentious stuff.
In the second instance, Allen approaches a group of people and asks what they’re talking about. They say “orgasms.” That’s when Keaton “Philadelphias” again – as if she’s embarrassed to be discussing orgasms because she’s not that kind of girl.
In neither case does it seem to me that the point is that Woody Allen thinks of himself as more worldly than Keaton. In the first case, he thinks she’s being a pompous ass by labeling a series of great artists as overrated. In the second, he’s just kind of amused to hear that the topic of discussion is orgasms.
In other words, I think it’s pretty clear that the point is not Woody Allen’s Manhattanite insularity, but rather Keaton’s insecurity and defensiveness. I just wasn’t clear on what the reference to Philadelphia was supposed to mean.
(And people who believe in god don’t discuss art and sex?)
Since Woody’s from Brooklyn, it wouldn’t work. Being from New York, I think the other responders nailed it . Being married to someone from Philadelphia, I better shut up.
Well, this is just knocking the ball back over the net, but I do think it’s more a commentary on the fact that people move from other parts of the country to NY and may find things different. If she were from Boston, Baltimore or Pittsburgh I don’t imagine it would have made a difference.
I was just thinking about The Philadelphia Story, in which the city is shorthand for old money sophistication. (It was clearly meant to be Main Line suburbs, but you get the idea.) That’s an interesting shift in a few decades…