Suburbia

Do people wear rose colored glasses in suburbia? Do people invite people into their homes more because they trust their neighbors? These communities are built, some with gates, some without direct through streets, some suburbs you need a map too. Anthropological studies have been done and resulted in to people feeling safer in a suburban community.


Do we feel safer in suburban neighborhoods? The history of Suburbia started with Levittown, the first area of mass construction. Most suburban areas are completely planned before the start of building. The new residents get to pick out of a few styles and colors. Movies that jump to my mind of suburbia are Pleasentville and Stepford Wives. This pristine and perfect area that nothing important happens in. Daily life is so scheduled and everything is on time. Men are at work and women are at home. Kids play safely in their yard or watch porno (as in Disturbia).

Edward Scissor Hands:
The suburbs have started to enclose around Edward's house. For years people have looked up at his mansion and told stories ohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.giff a strange man that lives there. Edward looks down and like all the other residents spends hours manicuring their lawns. Edward is special because he has hands made from scissors.

The women know everything, they watch and when Edward comes to Joyce's house all the neighborhood ladies want to know whom the mysterious man is. Joyce your friendly Avon representative takes a stranger in. She invites him into her home while the whole family is gone. She feels that he could never hurt anyone. The residents find him interesting. Suburbia is represented as a safe place where everyone knows all the business. This is differently represented then in more recent movies.

Disturbia:
This is a modern flick that is attractive to both young and old. A High school kid that has to live through a family tragedy and fostering inside from house arrest. Shia Labeouf's mother trusts the neighbor that Shia has been spying on for a few weeks.

From his window Shia can peep at the sexy neighbor, watch the kids watching porn, and spy on the man he thinks has murdered many women. He seems to know more then the rest of the community. All are living their 9-5 lifestyles and hiding in their houses. The media has been using suburbs to create a sense of the unknown. The sexy neighbor looks at herself in the mirror every morning and wonders "who am I." This is a lack of identity.

Even after Shia tells his mother all the reasons to stay away from the neighbor, she still thinks there is no way a killer could live next to them in the suburbs. Then when the neighbor gets into the teenage girls car to ask why she has been following him, he acts creepy. But for some reason she thought he acted nice and friendly. Maybe she was blinded by her rose colored glasses.

Creating knowledge: There is temptation in the city so these families have moved to the suburbs to focus on family life. The parent leave their kid of all ages to fend for themselves. They are safe because their surrounding are just more people in the same situation.

Suburbia makes people feel safe, they have their own lawns, the dog, the cars, they are living such a perfect life. In Edward Scissor Hands, the Easter colored houses and the kitchen-aid 2000 take over the womens life. They have everything and nothing new ever happens. There is safety in familiarity. The same cars leave Edwards neighborhood every morning at 8am.

Disturbia plays on this idea,"you never know who your living next too." This creates a fear that historically has not existed. The new transition of the suburbs is from single family detached housing to extravagant. It doesn't matter who you are as long as you have money.

I liked both movies, Edward Scissor Hand is well made and good for a comparison of Disturbia. They both had great music that made the situation more intense. People do move to suburbia to get away from the city in order to feel safer. Safer also comes with seclusion and seclusion can foster the strange.