Seeing Revolutioary Road gave me an idea: Movies about suburbia. It's definitely a modern theme, isn't it? And one that intrigues me (and, okay, sometimes repels me).I grew up in the suburbs--Bethesda, Maryland, to be exact--on a block in which most of the houses, if not exactly identical, were pretty damn close. The funny thing was that even an attempt to be different was usually foiled. "Oh, I like your deck, I think I'll add one to my house, too!"
I always felt like I was the only different one/family in the bunch. Back story: My brother had an immune deficiency disorder that required him to live in a sterile "bubble" room at the nearby National Institutes of Health. His story, and that of a little boy in Texas, were merged to create "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" (a movie that, for the record, I loathed). So, yeah, life...not so normal.
But given that the point of many movies and novels about suburbia tends to be that all KINDS of craziness goes on behind those identical doors, and that many of us grew up feeling like the black sheep in the universe, I guess I wasn't unique after all.
This is a long wind-up to a top ten list, isn't it?
Okay...I'm working on it. Here's what I've got for you so far (in no particular order)..and feel free to contribute your own nominees!
1) The Ice Storm (Ang Lee, 1997).
2) American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999) Same director as Revolutionary Road.
3) Little Children (Todd Field, 2006) Kate Winslet again. She and Mendes, who is her husband--and a Brit, like she is--must have a pet fascination.
4) Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998)
5) Welcome to the Dollhouse (Todd Solondz, 1995) Talk about pet fascinations...
6) Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)
7) Stepford Wives (Bryan Forbes, 1975) O.k., it's not a great movie. (And fyi, I'm talking about the first one. The re-make, a few years ago, surpassed not-great and earned the adjective "unbearable.") But given that "Stepford" has become such a much-used adjective, i.e. "That's so Stepford!" I think it merits a place on the list....
8) ?
9) ?
10) ?
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2 comments:
The Graduate, no?
Pulp Fiction has some lovely scenes from suburbia ("I don't need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay?"), but I think it covers too much ground downtown to really be from the 'burbs.
Tricky to tease out which films are about suburbia and which just take place there. Boogie Nights? A little of both, I guess.
Also tricky to figure which are about small towns and which are about suburbia. Breaking Away? More of a college-townie vibe, but it has distinct suburban elements. Blue Velvet?
A lot of Twilight Zone material was about the suburbs, but I'm not sure that counts.
but is the graduate about surbubia? or is that a key part of the story? or is that more about an era...hmmm...i think def. the movies on the list should be about suburbia, not just take place there. i think boogie nights and breaking away may have other more dominant themes. the graduate is a def. possibility....hey, remember that twilight zone where all the cars etc stopped working, and the neighbors, en masse, decided that there must be someone on the block who was an alien?
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