Suburbia as a Narrative Space between Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary American Cinema

Examination Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1,0, University of Cologne, language: English, abstract: [Suburbia] has become the quintessential physical achievement of the United States; it is perhaps more representative of its culture than big cars, tall buildings, or professional football. Suburbia symbolizes the fullest, most unadulterated embodiment

of contemporary culture.

As Kenneth Jackson notes in his price-winning chronicle Crabgrass Frontier,

the suburban landscape has become inseparable from American culture within

the last two centuries. Nowadays living in the suburbs is the norm for most

Americans, as since the 1990s, more than two third of the population lives in

suburban districts. The term suburbia does not only relate to the geographical

concept that differentiates these dwellings from urban or rural areas, but also

describes a cultural, ideological space incorporating Americans¿ hopes for an

economically safe and prosperous family life. Closely tied to the history and

culture of the USA, suburbia marks a dynamic ideological space that is

constantly influenced and recreated by both the events of everyday life and

artistic discourse. Thus, the depiction of suburban life functions as a central

narrative element in numerous works of American literature, art and film. In

this context, fictional texts do not merely represent suburbia, but also have a

decisive role in the shaping of suburban spaces.

The treatment of suburbia as a cultural space in American movies is of

special interest, as their commercial success and popularity make films

important cultural texts. As Spigel notes, ¿television and new media redirect

our experience of private and public spheres¿ and therefore highly influence

our perceptions of the spaces we inhabit. Regarding suburban landscapes, this

aspect is particularly interesting because the inexorable rise of the television

practically coincided with the postwar suburbanization of the US and had a

significant effect on life in general and on the suburban ideal in particular. As a consequence, the TV-set was inseparable from the model of the suburban

single-home in the 1950s. Thus, already in the fifties, when the idealized image

of suburbia evolved, television had a decisive impact on the creation of

suburbia as a cultural space. In this context, it must be questioned whether the

depictions of suburbia are simulations of the real spaces, or if it is in fact the other way around, so that suburbia as a cultural concept is a mere simulation of the fictional spaces depicted on screen and thus a copy without an original.