On Tuesday, you viewed clips from films and sitcoms that depicted suburbia--some positively, some critically.
What are some films/sitcoms that situate themselves in suburbia? How do they portray life in the suburbs? Provide examples of specific scenes that support your point.
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The lives of people in the suburbs are typically portrayed as easier than the lives of people who live in urban areas. For example, a movie that is primarily set in a suburban setting would be American Pie. American Pie was about a group of friends who went to high school together and did not have any "serious" problems. None of them had to worry about where the money was coming from to pay the electric bill or their phone bill. That seems to be a constant theme among these movies or shows of people living in the suburbs. Their lives seem to be a lot easier than people who live in an urban neighborhood. They never have to worry about "getting by." For example, in the scene at the end of American Pie, no one seemed to be worried about what they were going to do for the future. They seemed more worry about how they were going to say goodbye to each other. If that was a high school graduation in an urban area, the students would have been much more concerned about what their future was going to look like. Then, for a sitcom, I immediately thought of the show Everybody Loves Raymond. Throughout the show, it always seemed as though there were never any real problems. Everything was always a little problem such as when Raymond taped over their wedding ceremony with the Superbowl or when Raymond and his wife were fighting over who was going to have the bathroom for themselves. There was never a real urgent problem that presented itself on that show.
A lot of shows and movies came to mind when I thought of how "suburbia" is portrayed. My first thought was Desperate Housewives. Every house is "perfect" and everyone's lawns are well maintained, and people appear to be happy with their lives, but in reality there is drama and situations that are kept secret. People living in the suburbs do not necessarily have urgent problems with housing and money like many living in an urban setting do, but there is always something that needs tending to (drama and problems that could and should be easily resolved.) Another show I thought of was Gilmore Girls. The town it takes place in, Stars Hollow, is the ideal place to live if someone wants to live in a close community of nice houses where everybody knows each other. We saw the trailer for Edward Scissorhands in class, and I think the part of the movie that really stresses the idea is in the beginning when everyone is leaving for work. You see that everyone's house looks the same, they all have the same routine, and even their cars all look alike. But, like every seemingly "perfect" neighborhood, we know that not everything is as good as it seems. When something, or someone in this case, comes around and disturbs their way of life, it ends up with Edward ultimately leaving so they can return to their normal way of life. The last show I thought of was Seventh Heaven, where the father of seven children was a minister, and the mother was a stay at home housekeeper. If there was a show that portrays the "perfect" family in a suburban community, this was it. Yes, they had their moments as everyone does, but it always came together with the "happy ending," very much like the earlier tv shows like the Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days, Leave it to Beaver, etc.
Suburbia is demonstrated as the stereotypical “American Dream” the house all have nice yards and drive ways. Although through the various clips you recognize a emotional divided in the family there is a sense of ritualistic behavior that is expected in suburbia. Examples include the family meal, the maternal figure insuring a healthy meal for their family, the busy paternal figure always having to run. Television if primarily composed of this in an attempt to maintain the dream a vivid goal for Americans. Everything from 90210, to Family Matters and the Cosbys demonstrate the fantasy of the “American Dream”. Life in suburbia has a reputation of nice orderly life where every issue is resolved by night fall and the characters never experience anything to complex. On television you would never see a drug addict ruining their family with addiction nor would u see the realities of life in the urban core, poverty and stress. Suburbia is a perfect reality.
Family sitcoms and movies are very much centered around the suburban life. Suburban life is all about keeping up with the Jones'. Everyone wants to be seen as the happy family with an average of two kids who live successful lives in a large house with the stereotypical picket white fence in a predominantly white neighborhood with some acceptions. The first sitcoms I thought that portrayed this lifestyle is I Love Lucy and Home Improvement. Lucy always wanted to dress her best and impress her friends with the lifestyle she was living, even though she was not always telling the truth. She put on a different persona around those who were rich and tried to belong to the wealthy class of people. She also does not shy away from the fact that her husband is the infamous band leader Ricky Riccardo, which she loved to flaunt. I also think Home Improvement is a more modern idea of a family living in modern suburbia. Tim always wanted to show off to people that he was good at his job and could fix anything, despite his shortcomings. Everything not necessarily succeeded when he tried to fix appliances in his own home or help his kids with improving their sled for the winter.
Regarding films, an excellent example of suburbia would be Unfaithful. Unfaithful was a movie that portrayed the supposedly happy looking husband and wife couple that lived in New York with their son. The wife was actually having an affair with a younger man and her husband eventually found out, which destroyed their relationship. This movie portrayed the suburban life by showing that no matter what people own, it may not ever be enough.
Suburbia is the median of "perfect" and "imperfect" between the lives of people living in the city all the out to rural America. Television and media depict suburbia as the environment where its suitable to live without fault and strain. Certain elements which exist in the inner-city area would not typically be found in the suburbs, but they would be existent in the lives of some suburbanites. Leave it to Beaver is a great example of the lives of many suburbanites, with minimal life altering and moral challenges. You never see Beaver getting mugged or worrying about which area to watch while traveling. He is so accustomed to being worry free and only having to respond to his parents. The show suggests that a perfect family life with parental control and no signs of disobedience. The nature of the show is to portray an American family with the "white-picket" fence and perfect neighborhood where all people are oblivious to the struggles of inner city social and economic hardship. The content is aimed at suburban children to teach them the proper way of decision making and choice rather than a life of deviance and selfishness. Beaver was exemplary of the kids it was targeting, he was to show the benefits of living an honest and truthful life. On the contrary a show depicting a life of struggle and conflict would be All in the Family, featuring Carrol O'Connor. The show gave the family setting in suburban neighborhood, but portrayed the hardships of race, class and social struggle. One distinct episode was about a swastika being painted on the front door of the house, but it was intended for the Jewish neighbor. Archie was outraged and worried after the man investigating was killed after his car blew up. It gives a different feel of the suburban life with the necessity to worry about inner-city crime while living in the "perfect" neighborhood.
While viewing films or certain TV shows, those located in the suburbs are the ones with a better life. In shows like Leave it to Beaver the audience is given a glimpse into a suburban families life and the small troubles they face. The main difference is that their "troubles" are not really life threatening. There is no one losing their homes, fatal diseases, or actual problems that real families face. The suburbs are seen as "Pleasantville". People all know one another, everyone is happy, and no one has any serious problems. People view these images to escape reality, and the actual problems they face in everyday real life. Happy days is another TV show that showed how good everyone's life was. The show is called Happy Days, meaning that everything is going good, there is no serious problems that hurt anyone. The main issues for these teenagers are who their date will be to the next dance!
While looking over what my class mates had to say on the topic and my own personal thoughts. Suburbia in movies and television does take the role of the perfect laid back communities which is made up of the same cookie cutter houses that all look similar to each other. Although yes most new developments in the suburbs do look the same, not all are like that but is a common misconception.
During the summers and on weekends during the school year I work for a local landscaper in my area. And I totally agree with Robins quote "keeping up with the Jones'" reference. I feel as though we would do work at one house and then a week later we would be doing similar work a couple houses down. It is unreal how suburbia is truly predictable, but mainly most of the people who are moving to the suburbs are people trying to escape urban areas.
One show that came to mind when considering TV shows that depict suburbia was “Still Standing.” My roommate watches a lot of shows that depict suburban life and this is one that I find hilarious, but also hits home some key points that make sense with the misinterpretation of suburban life, but sometimes truly capturing certain aspects. The show depicts the parents as somewhat irresponsible to their three well educated children. The episode that I watch on you tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHg8p91lWsw, depicts an argument that they are having over their son quitting his job and the parents blatantly disagreeing in front of their child. The burbs are a unique place all there own and like any other place it has its myths and realities that loom around it.
When one thinks of the American dream, immediately ideas of a house in the suburbs with a spacious front lawn and a white picket fence come to mind. This stereotype is engrained into our minds as what we should all strive to attain. The suburbs are always associated with middle to upper middle class families and safe close knit communities. An example of suburbia that can be seen in a film is Dennis the Menace (the movie). This movie portrays the suburbs as a place where it is acceptable to let your kids roam the streets and partake in neighborhood games without any reason to worry. It displays the traditional American family that feels safe enough to leave their doors unlocked. The friendly relationship between neighbors is also seen. The scene from this film that sums up this portrait of suburbia is when there is a convict on the loose through-out the neighborhood. The idea of theft and trespassing is an unfamiliar topic to these individuals and is shocking. This scene gives great insight into how the typical individual living in suburbia views life. Although this scene involves unfavorable actions it shows suburbia in a positive light, because this is something that does not occur often and challenges typical suburbia life.
There's one particular show that I want to mention that most people don't know about. It's just been canceled by Fox and it was called "The Riches". Based in Louisiana, it was about a traveler "gypsy" family that, essentially, stole the American Dream. The series based its messages on the darker side of suburbia, with themes delving into corruption, power, thievery, and the alienation of a family. The interesting plot made for a very interesting look at how the wonders of suburbia can lead tot he deterioration of morals and family structure. It stands apart from the typical shows that we've already mentioned (Everybody Loves Raymond, Desperate Housewives (spare me), Gilmore Girls (spare me even more), 90210 and the like. Those shows, however, do enlighten the public to what we would all believe to be the Pleasantville that we would all fantasize about, often bringing us back to an earlier age in the American twentieth century. I have to disagree somewhat with my peers in that most of them say that there are no "real problems" with these shows. While the problems may not be gang violence, drug usage, or something on that level, they do, as much as they are able to do within their TV viewer discretion ratings. And it must be remembered that we are typically talking about sitcoms here. Sitcoms are not meant to tackle real problems, they are meant to be funny, hence situation-comedy.
American suburbia can be portrayed in a couple different ways. First is the typical privileged, near perfect life of some. A lot of shows and movies came to my mind when thinking of this. For example, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" is set smack in suburbia. They are seen as the rich family who was able to make enough money to get away from the city and into the nice, pleasant suburbs. The biggest problem the characters have in the show is which girl Will is going to take out or which dress Hilary's going to buy.
On the other hand, there are television programs that show families in the suburbs to live comfortable financially, however they are portrayed as very troubled with basically everything. The plots of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "7th Heaven" are based solely on the millions of everyday problems and hassles that each family must go through, i.e. Raymond's wife and mother battle over the most ridiculous things, causing turmoil throughout both families. These shows make suburban life look quite hard to deal with opposed to shows like "Fresh Prince" or "The Brady Bunch".
Some films/sitcoms that portray suburbia life are Leave it to Beaver, The Wonder Years, and Happy Days. Life is portrayed to be happy, comfortable, uniform, and filled with little problems that can easily be fixed. Nothing serious every really happens on these shows and everyone always keeps a positive attitude. On all three shows I always noticed how the kitchens were always in pristine condition and everything matched, from the hand towels, to the curtains, to the tablecloth. The houses were always very uniform and everyone on the block had the same type of home just a different color. On these shows you were able to see the start of developments, where one contractor would come in and build 10-20 houses that all looked very similar, just like in Edward Scissor Hands. The Wonder Years depicted suburban life as a place where families and friends came together to barbeque, laugh, ride bikes, and play baseball in the streets. It made life in the suburbs seem perfect, content, and enjoyable for all. I remember watching the show and Kevin's biggest problem was having a pimple on his face. His mother made it like it was no big deal, but to him it was the end of the world. Also, the parents' biggest problem was raising their children. It was not about money or bills, but about the well being of their children. Overall suburban life is portrayed as clean, friendly, family oriented, and a sense of community is very strong throughout.
The T.V Show that I think of when looking at shows that are set in a suburban setting is "Desperate Housewives". The setting of the show is in a high class american suburb. All of the characters in the show seem to have very privilaged lives. They all have money and nice things. While on the surface all of the characters seem to have a great life we get to see that they really don't have great lives at all. The characters of the show are shown to have failed relationships with their marriage parners as well as with their children. The characters all show that although they apear to have everything what they really lack are healthy relationships with one another. The neighbors are supose to be friends but are always talking bad about one another behind their backs and manipulating one another. I think a show like this is apealing to both residence of the suburbs as well as residents of urban towns. The reason for suburban residences enjoying the show is that they would like to think that their neighbors do have skeletons in the closet. That their neighbor who seems to be perfect may be hiding a lot behind closed doors. As for people of an urban setting I think they enjoy the show to see that people in the suburbs may have more problems then they do in their urban town. It portrays suburban life as producing people that are unstable.
A lot of different movies and television shows have been based around the suburban world. Just as suburbia became a more popular place to live throughout the last half of the 20th century, the entertainment industry has reflected the population. This trend has continued and still continues to this day. It has even moved into animated television shows like The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy. These shows portray their characters as being highly independent while at the same time interacting with their community. The suburbs are often the typical setting for sitcoms put on tv. Recent ones like George Lopez' show and older ones like Family matters and Full house show families living in their own homes, making their own sustaining income, and remaining highly independent. Many of the households have a typical family setting which includes a "man of the house"; a father/husband that is the family's breadwinner. There are also usually 2 or 3 children with most families having a mix of boys and girls. Movies too have included suburban settings. Disturbia, a ripoff of Hitchcock's Rear Window, shows how a new member of a sleepy town disturbs the calm and safe setting that is often associated with the suburbs.
America has always placed a lot of value on the suburbs. Perhaps it has become iconic of the American dream and the idea of success. Some believe that the American dream is a myth and equals a search for the holy grail, I would say one need look no further than suburbia.
When it comes to television I really do not watch much television and when it comes to movies I am just as bad. For television I really do not watch any current shows besides "The Office" and that really only shows what is happening in an office building for about 85% of the show. I do watch TBS sometimes, and out of the shows that I watch (Home Improvement, Just Shoot Me, King of Queens, and Seinfeld) the only one that is based in a suburban area is Home Improvement. The other three shows are all based in New York City.
In Home Improvement they show many examples to portray life in a suburban town. The show is about the Taylor family who live in a suburban town outside of Detroit, Michigan. The Taylor family is made up of: father Tim, mother Jill, and three sons Brad, Randy, and Mark. Throughout the show there are many aspects that were very similar to aspects of my suburban town. One of the most obvious suburban characteristics was how the Taylor family and their neighbor, Wilson, had a relationship with one another since they lived next to one another. Another recurring theme is how Tim and Jill raise their children through their hardships that they meet. Most of these hardships are really related to suburban life, such as school bullies, school grades, and relationships. In one episode they mentioned how one of the children in the show was trying out to be on the town's football team. In another they showed how the three Taylor brothers did not get along with a few brothers in the neighborhood so they built a catapult to get back at them.
Some other examples of suburban that Tim competes in the community Christmas Light Decorating contest in his community. Also he is friends with the owner of the local hardware store and goes there when ever he needs tool or supplies. This show does a pretty good job of portraying suburban life in a good light as there are no major problems they have to deal with. For example there really is never the mention of crime besides the time that Brad was brought home by the police since he was causing mischief).
Outside of city and urban limits are the suburbs. These areas usually are home to those that commute to cities for work. The common characteristics of these areas are single family homes, a nuclear family, yards, and picket fences. Also, these areas seem safe and free of crime compared to urban cities. Some depictions of suburbia are shows such as Home Improvement and Friday Night Lights. I remember distinctly an episode of Home Improvement where Tim's neighbor Wilson was robbed. Later on that day the entire town knew of what happened to Wilson. Jill, Tim's wife, enthusiastically encouraged Tim to buy the biggest, most elaborate alarm system for the house. This to me depicts a suburb because crime is not an everyday occurrence there and Jill’s response is evident of that. Typically, the suburb is the safe, friendly, and family oriented area where people live. This holds true in The Truman Show and beginning of Pleasantville.
Another show that has suburban values is Friday Night Lights the television show. The entire town is wrapped up in the high school football program. In a recent episode, there was a grant that could be used to either hire more teachers or buy a Jumbotron for the football field. The people of the town chose the Jumbotron. I find this typical of suburbia because the town is so focused on their high school football. In urban areas and cities the communities are situated differently. Cities usually have multiple schools and larger communities then in the suburbs. In the television shows from class, it was common to know another person everywhere you went. I think that is common to suburbia because the communities are so close knit. Tool Time and Friday Night Lights display so many themes common to the suburbs such as safety, close knit communities, and little privacy.
Both the Brady Bunch the adventures of Pete and Pete show life in the suburbs. The Brady Bunch shows the suburbs as a stereotype of purity where nothing goes wrong. Everyone is happy, and any problems that do occur are fixed in thirty minutes less commercials. The parents don’t fight, and the kids have only childish squabbles. There is never a situation involving guns, and they gloss over the fact that both parents are on their second marriage. The adventures of Pete and Pete show the world of suburbia in a darker light. Where kids who aren’t watched by parents roam the streets and make fun of old ladies who have excess arm skin. In this show suburbia was shown as boring and life tedious. The only way to circumvent this was for the kids to make their own fun which would always lead to trouble and embarrassment for the family.
Most of the time suburbia is portrayed and the norm. Simply a back drop for the plot of a show to unfold. This is most likely because the writers of the TV show or movie are playing to a suburban audience and what they to feel conformable and be able to relate easily. I do not watch a lot of TV or movies but "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons" are both suburban settings but it is something that is taken for granted because it is where the audience also lives.
When I think about a movie/ tv show that takes place within a suburb, I automatically think of Stepford Wives, which was set in a suburb of Connecticut. Stepford Wives is a movie demonstrating the idea that every family/household in suburbia is the same. It does what many other movies do when depicting suburbia; it casts a negative light on it. In movies, suburbs look boring and slow. They also make it seem as if the people who live there lead monotonous lives and are either miserable or blissfully ignorant as to what exists outside of them. Many of the plots reflect suburbanites as miserable robots in the beginning and then go on to show an enlightenment or transformation of the character.
The houses are often medium sized, with a finely groomed lawn, and a nice car parked in the driveway. On screen, suburbs are always middle class. This is a product of generalizations and also acts as platform from which people create their ideas about suburbs, which are often negative.
Suburbia is almost universally portrayed as the perfect, quiet, little town where everybody knows one another and is friendly. Many sitcoms from my childhood used this same template. For example, Pete and Pete was an old Nickelodeon show about kids growing up in the suburbs. They would encounter situations typical of the suburbs such as old ghost stories of haunted houses, run-ins with law enforcement, problems with teachers and parents. The show depicted suburbia as a safe place for kids to grow up in an environment where they would have to find ways to entertain themselves. For the most part, every kid was middle class and had no worries, other than those typical of a middle class suburbanite. Another show, Eerie, Indiana, was about a boy from a more urban northern New Jersey city, who moved to the fictitious Eerie, Indiana. Eerie followed the same design as many suburban sitcoms. Marshall, the main character, viewed suburbia as a quiet town that was too good to be true. The show centered around him finding oddities within the town and its residents and he became a witch hunter of sorts and investigated peculiarities which he deemed supernatural in Eerie.
Life in American suburbia is commonly misunderstood as being problem free, where one lives far from the stresses of urban life. But this is not the case, there is crime, drug abuse, and poverty in suburban areas. In class we watched some of American Beauty which is a great example of how suburban life isn't perfect. A husband who looses his sense of identity and his quest to rediscover himself. His neurotic wife who is all about material goods and self image. Between them a failing marriage and a daughter who feels completely detached from her parents. The fake image of suburban life can be seen more during television sitcoms of the 1950s and '60s. Sitcoms like Leave it to Beaver showed suburban life as a perfect, friendly, and problem free. The wife always had meals prepared for her working husband who was the one pulling in the money. Often portraying women in a negative and inferior way in the context of society at that time. Their children never seemed to get into much trouble and in the end a moral lesson was learned with everyone pleasantly happy. Jump to the 1990s with one of my favorite shows of all time Married With Children. This gives one a totally different view of American suburbia. Al Bundy is not happy that he has a house with two children and a wife in a relatively pleasant area. Al hates his life and his dead end job as a womens shoe salesman in the mall. His only true love is football often remembering his better days in high school, as well as sitting on the couch and trying to enjoy what little he has. He has a wife Peg who is far from June Cleaver as she barely cooks and when she does it is nothing special as they have no money for food because of Al's low paying job. Bud and Kelly Bundy are like the spawn of Satan compared to the Cleaver children. Kelly is mostly seen as a tramp who is never at home and Bud often looks to steal money from his father for events outside of the house. Although these characters are exaggerated for comedy it doest reflect suburbia for a large part of the country. People in low paying jobs which causes depression. Kids are becoming more and more detached from the family as they are escaping either the situation in their house or their parents who never seem to understand them. Married With Children is a great exaggerated example of how life is not always better in suburbia rather it can have the same problems as people who live in urban areas.
The typical suburbia sitcom usually is based on a friendly white family where it seems everything seems to work its self out. In the show "Everyone loves Raymond", it is a white suburban family that never really seems to have any serious problems(death, illness, etc) but when they do run into a situation it's always fixed with a funny joke or a far fetched solution. Like "Pleasantville" it depicts how the average American family should act. The mother cooks the food and takes care of the children, and the father goes out and works. It is the same in many other sitcoms and most send the same messages. They are all trying to demonstrate and preserve the American Dream but they always seem to leave out a lot of the real struggles that Americans face everyday such as this recession we're walking into and job lose. Also in these shows they make it seem like these suburban families don't work hard for their money and all of the possessions, that it all just comes from no where when in fact they probably worked hard for the things they have.
Television shows and movies that I have provide a suburbia background have a very interesting persepctive as to what goes on in these locations. For example, the Brady Bunch was set in a suburban area. Major conflicts in this show included Marsha trying to finish a book report before the deadline, Peter working with a neighbor on a science project, or Cindy feeling sad because something happened to her doll. Conflicts seldomly discussed money problems, neighborhood disputes, or health concerns (just to name a few). Viewers were led to believe that if one were to live a suburban area - that life would be "swell."
Another show that demonstrates suburbia extreme perspective was 7th Heaven. Growing up, like others, I watched this show and watched as the teens dealt with everyday problems. The teens would experiement with drinking and drugs. The show also presented a segment on "cutting." The problem with the presentation of these problems is that the solution was often a "quick fix" that usually surrounded around the family support that they could offer. I remember Mary, the oldest sister, got really drunk three weeks in a row and was failing out of school. The next week her family spoke to her and reminded how lucky she was to live in such a great neighborhood with a father as a minister. The very next week, she was feeling more secure, on the Dean's list, and was never tempted to experiment with alcohol. Hello!?! That does not really happen and a lot of these shows are not accurate description as to what really happens in suburbia.
The Wonder Years is a show that takes place in Suburbia. There are no major problems. The family consists of 3 kids, a mother and a father. The kids go to school and don't have to deal with school shootings or drugs. One problem they delt with was the bulldozing of a forest. The main character Kevin got together with his friends and tried to prevent it from being torn down because it was a place where Kevin and his friends would hang out. They tried going to town hall and pleading their case. If my memory serves me right, they end up failing and the forest gets torn down.
Another show that portrays suburbia is The Brady Bunch. I still recall an episode where the worst problem that occurred was Marsha, one of the girls, was hit in the face with a football by her brother and broke her nose. She was supposed to go on a date I believe so the main issue was trying to heal her nose and make it look better before the date.
These suburbia shows show the lives of these people as simple. There was school with metal detectors at the door. There was no fear of going to school and worrying about not coming home. Instead, getting into a fender bender would be the worst thing to happen to one of these families.
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