Nick Loui

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What are the Suburbs? In our film history class, we study many different films and how they reflect the society that they were created in. It is hard to deny that countless films provide social commentary, whether it is subtle or not. Our most recent assignment was to analyze the differences and similarities between the 1955 Douglas Sirk film All that Heaven Allows and the more recent 2008 Sam Mendes film Revolutionary Road.  Hopefully, this entry will be a sort of sandbox, where I can spew some of my thoughts on the topic before I turn in my actual essay. When my professor first told us about this assignment, I did not know how to compare two seemingly different films (at least from what I knew about Revolutionary Road).  We had watched All that Heaven Allows in class, so I only had one side of the argument.  At the same time, she didn’t really specify what kinds of similarities and differences we should be looking for— themes?  actors?  symbols?  directing styles?. I think that what it boils down to is that both provide fairly harsh criticisms of the American Dream, the 1950’s idea of the typical suburban family with the dad that works and the stay at home mom.  The idea of the suburbs is so interesting, especially since I come from one.  Well, sort of.  La Canada may be a suburb, but it’s also very near a vibrant city. We have this fascination with suburbs.  How many films or tv shows are about them?  Some that come off the top of my head— Pleasantville, Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, a recent episode of Chuck, Stepford Wives, Back to the Future, and obviously these two films.  I’m sure if I keep thinking I could come up with countless more. Interestingly, all of these TV shows and films share similar opinions about suburbs.  There is this stigma that everything in the suburbs is based upon facades.  From the outside, the town is a perfectly quaint neighborhood. You move to the suburbs to get away from the city and raise a family in a safe environment.  However, when you begin to look into the underlying relationships and friendships within you begin to see all of its many faults.  ”Keeping up with the Jones’s” is just a way of hiding the many problems that exist. There was a television show called “Hidden Hills” about La Canada developed in 2001, that was critically acclaimed but debuted around September 11th causing it to be commercially unsuccessful.  In many ways, it shared similar ideas with Desperate Housewives.  Suburban neighborhood, but all of the relationships within them were completely bizarre.  For example, the porn star mom with the first grader in the public elementary school or the key parties that the parents went to on weekends, all based on real stories. This fascination with the suburbs is commented upon so many times.  In All that Heaven Allows, the high class suburban housewife is a widow that is having a relationship with her gardener.  In Revolutionary Road, a couple struggles with living in an environment that they hate but can’t seem to escape.  In both films, one of the central conflicts is the fact that the housewives in both stories are stuck in a nice little house with absolutely nothing to do.  Both are equally beautiful and unique films in their own right. In All that Heaven Allows, Rock Hudson’s character convinces Jane Wyman’s character to move out of the familiar suburbs into the wilderness.  This drastic move seemingly allows her to escape the trap of the suburbs.  Her son and daughter, however, approve of neither the relationship nor the move.  Because of this, she eventually gives up and remains there.  The key moment in the entire film is towards the end near Christmas and Wyman’s character realizes that everything around her is changing and there is a beautiful shot of herself looking into a new TV that her family purchased for her.  The camera pans out and we see her face beginning to realize that she made a huge mistake by staying in the suburbs. * SKIP THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN REVOLUTIONARY ROAD * In Revolutionary Road, DiCaprio and Winslet are stuck in the suburbs and have a brilliant plan to move to Paris.  The issue of leaving the suburbs and a steady job, however, keep them from doing this.  The tension of living in this environment that they hate causes huge amounts of tension between the two. Similar to All that Heaven Allows, they both end up stuck in the suburbs unhappy.  Unfortunately for the characters in Revolutionary Road, the ending is incredibly negative and it does not work out for them— unlike All that Heaven Allows. ============================== I can’t say what all of this means, but I do feel like the idea what a suburb is is a topic that countless films comment upon over and over again.  There is always the prominent idea of being stuck in a completely fake world, having to put on a Stepford appearance.  So, maybe the central question these films ask is why suburbs in America are so popular.  Why they are so important to the American Dream.

What are the Suburbs?

In our film history class, we study many different films and how they reflect the society that they were created in. It is hard to deny that countless films provide social commentary, whether it is subtle or not.

Our most recent assignment was to analyze the differences and similarities between the 1955 Douglas Sirk film All that Heaven Allows and the more recent 2008 Sam Mendes film Revolutionary Road.  Hopefully, this entry will be a sort of sandbox, where I can spew some of my thoughts on the topic before I turn in my actual essay.

When my professor first told us about this assignment, I did not know how to compare two seemingly different films (at least from what I knew about Revolutionary Road).  We had watched All that Heaven Allows in class, so I only had one side of the argument.  At the same time, she didn’t really specify what kinds of similarities and differences we should be looking for— themes?  actors?  symbols?  directing styles?.

I think that what it boils down to is that both provide fairly harsh criticisms of the American Dream, the 1950’s idea of the typical suburban family with the dad that works and the stay at home mom.  The idea of the suburbs is so interesting, especially since I come from one.  Well, sort of.  La Canada may be a suburb, but it’s also very near a vibrant city.

We have this fascination with suburbs.  How many films or tv shows are about them?  Some that come off the top of my head— Pleasantville, Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, a recent episode of Chuck, Stepford Wives, Back to the Future, and obviously these two films.  I’m sure if I keep thinking I could come up with countless more.

Interestingly, all of these TV shows and films share similar opinions about suburbs.  There is this stigma that everything in the suburbs is based upon facades.  From the outside, the town is a perfectly quaint neighborhood. You move to the suburbs to get away from the city and raise a family in a safe environment.  However, when you begin to look into the underlying relationships and friendships within you begin to see all of its many faults.  ”Keeping up with the Jones’s” is just a way of hiding the many problems that exist.

There was a television show called “Hidden Hills” about La Canada developed in 2001, that was critically acclaimed but debuted around September 11th causing it to be commercially unsuccessful.  In many ways, it shared similar ideas with Desperate Housewives.  Suburban neighborhood, but all of the relationships within them were completely bizarre.  For example, the porn star mom with the first grader in the public elementary school or the key parties that the parents went to on weekends, all based on real stories.

This fascination with the suburbs is commented upon so many times.  In All that Heaven Allows, the high class suburban housewife is a widow that is having a relationship with her gardener.  In Revolutionary Road, a couple struggles with living in an environment that they hate but can’t seem to escape.  In both films, one of the central conflicts is the fact that the housewives in both stories are stuck in a nice little house with absolutely nothing to do.  Both are equally beautiful and unique films in their own right.

In All that Heaven Allows, Rock Hudson’s character convinces Jane Wyman’s character to move out of the familiar suburbs into the wilderness.  This drastic move seemingly allows her to escape the trap of the suburbs.  Her son and daughter, however, approve of neither the relationship nor the move.  Because of this, she eventually gives up and remains there.  The key moment in the entire film is towards the end near Christmas and Wyman’s character realizes that everything around her is changing and there is a beautiful shot of herself looking into a new TV that her family purchased for her.  The camera pans out and we see her face beginning to realize that she made a huge mistake by staying in the suburbs.

* SKIP THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN REVOLUTIONARY ROAD *

In Revolutionary Road, DiCaprio and Winslet are stuck in the suburbs and have a brilliant plan to move to Paris.  The issue of leaving the suburbs and a steady job, however, keep them from doing this.  The tension of living in this environment that they hate causes huge amounts of tension between the two. Similar to All that Heaven Allows, they both end up stuck in the suburbs unhappy.  Unfortunately for the characters in Revolutionary Road, the ending is incredibly negative and it does not work out for them— unlike All that Heaven Allows.

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I can’t say what all of this means, but I do feel like the idea what a suburb is is a topic that countless films comment upon over and over again.  There is always the prominent idea of being stuck in a completely fake world, having to put on a Stepford appearance.  So, maybe the central question these films ask is why suburbs in America are so popular.  Why they are so important to the American Dream.