1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910814935503321

Autore

Coon David R. <1974->

Titolo

Look closer : suburban narratives and American values in film and television / / David R. Coon

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, New Jersey : , : Rutgers University Press, , [2014]

©2014

ISBN

0-8135-6209-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (282 p.)

Classificazione

AP 33283

Disciplina

791.43/62

Soggetti

Suburban life in motion pictures

Suburban life on television

United States In motion pictures

United States On television

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: welcome to the neighborhood -- Traditional values: nostalgia and self-reflexivity in visual representations of suburbia -- Back yard fences: the public, the private, and the family in suburban dramas -- Suburban citizenship: defining community through the exclusion of racial and sexual minorities -- Desperate husbands: the crisis of hegemonic masculinity in post-9/11 suburbia -- Protecting the suburban lifestyle: consumption, crime, and the American dream -- Conclusion: there goes the neighborhood.

Sommario/riassunto

In recent years, the media landscape in the United States has followed a pattern similar to that of the physical landscape by becoming increasingly suburbanized. Although it is a far cry from reality, the fantasy of a perfect suburban life still exists in the collective imagination of millions of Americans. This dream of suburban perfection is built around a variety of such ideologically conservative values and ideals as the importance of tradition, the centrality of the nuclear family, the desire for a community of like-minded neighbors, the need for clearly defined gender roles, and the belief that with hard work and determination, anyone can succeed. Building on the relationships between suburban life and American identity, Look Closer



examines and interprets recent narratives that challenge the suburban ideal to reveal how directors and producers are mobilizing the spaces of suburbia to tell new kinds of stories about America. David R. Coon argues that the myth of suburban perfection, popularized by postwar sitcoms and advertisements, continues to symbolize a range of intensely debated issues related to tradition, family, gender, race, and citizenship. Through close examinations of such films as American Beauty, The Truman Show, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith as well as such television series as Desperate Housewives, Weeds, and Big Love, the book demonstrates how suburbia is used to critique the ideologies that underpin the suburban American Dream.