IT'S MY ISLAND
by Batya "The Toon" Levin

STEVEN:  I wouldn't worry about the Irish.  Sure, didn't I tell you before.  
	It's my island.
WALLACE:  Yours?
STEVEN: (laughing) MY island!
                                            --"BRAVEHEART"
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	After living in New York, you trust nobody, but you believe everything.  
Just in case.


	If you live in New York, you know what I'm talking about.  You know that 
little thrill you get when you recognize bits of scenery on the show, because 
you've been there.  You know that certain parts of the Manhattan skyline, when 
seen from a certain angle, just scream out for something with wide leathery 
wings and intelligent eyes to swoop down and complete the scene.

	And you know that sunset in Manhattan will never be the same again.

	I went to the Cloisters in northern Manhattan for the first time just a 
few weeks ago.  And standing outside the room with the unicorn tapestries, 
looking at the little enclosed courtyard, I caught myself expecting to see a 
slender winged figure step out from the shadows, carrying a heavy book, smiling 
triumphantly....

	Yes, of course I'm obsessed, dear reader, mon semblable, mon frere; so 
are you, or you wouldn't be reading this.  I don't mind.

	But this was one of the things that attracted me to GARGOYLES in the 
first place--the realness.  Now don't laugh, I didn't say "realism"--though 
there's enough of that, in its own way.  I said "realness."

	You see, as a writing student, I've been told again and again of the 
importance of "grounding" -- making the setting for your action _real_.  Let 
your readers (or in the case of a television show, your viewers) feel the 
atmosphere of the place; sounds, smells, textures.  If the setting is vivid 
enough, if the location seems real enough, the action seems that much more 
immediate and real.

	Well, I know this location, and it's about as real as a city can get.  
And the crew of GARGOYLES lose no opportunity to show us that this really _is_ 
New York City--hardly an episode goes by without showing us some distinctly 
recognizable part of it.  And this is my city; I know these places.  I've seen 
the falcon heads on the Chrysler Building.  I've leaned against the parapet of 
Belvedere Castle.  I have walked the jogger's route through Central Park; I have 
taken pictures of the gilded statue of Prometheus; I have tossed stones into the 
Hudson River.  I have stood on a rooftop by night and waited for the moon to 
rise over the towers of Manhattan.

	And I am constantly being shown again what I have known all along, since 
GARGOYLES first aired:  the people who work for this show _know_ this city, and 
love it, as I do.  And when something is truly known, and loved, it cannot help 
but be real.

	And the intent may be just that; this may be fantasy, but it's happening 
in a real place--one of the most well-known cities in the world.  This isn't 
Metropolis.  This isn't Gotham City.

	This is Manhattan.  This is MY island.


                                                            October 1995