Look Closer: Suburban Narratives and American Values in Film and Television

David R. Coon

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Look Closer

Suburban Narratives and American Values in Film and Television

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2013

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

DAVID R. COON is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Washington Tacoma.

Reviews

"With ingenuity, nuance, and an eye for visual detail, Coon's timely and significant book explores the tendency of recent media narratives to question the sanitized, simplistic myth of suburbia."

— Steve Macek, author of Urban Nightmares: The Media, The Right, and the Moral Panic Over the City

"Coon's savvy book is dynamic, contentious, and revealing. His persuasive analyses show how cinema, television, and advertising have both reinforced and challenged prevailing ideas of the 'burb and the happy, bizarre, and painful lifestyles that unfold there."

— Mark Shiel, author of Hollywood Cinema and the Real Los Angeles

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Frontmatter
i

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CONTENTS
v

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Acknowledgments
vii

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Introduction: Welcome to the Neighborhood
1

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1. Traditional Values: Nostalgia and Self-Reflexivity in Visual Representations of Suburbia
30

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2. Back Yard Fences: The Public, the Private, and the Family in Suburban Dramas
69

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3. Suburban Citizenship: Defining Community through the Exclusion of Racial and Sexual Minorities
103

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4. Desperate Husbands: The Crisis of Hegemonic Masculinity in Post-9/11 Suburbia
141

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5. Protecting the Suburban Lifestyle: Consumption, Crime, and the American Dream
179

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Conclusion: There Goes the Neighborhood
212

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Notes
235

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Index
257

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
271

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Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

January 20, 2020

eBook ISBN:

9780813562094

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813562094

eBook ISBN: 9780813562094

Keywords for this book

urban studies; suburbs; suburban studies; american studies; film; media studies; communications; American Beauty; film history; film culture; film studies; cinema studies; cinematic studies; cinema history; cinematic history; movie history; movie studies; movie culture; The Truman Show; Mr. & Mrs. Smith; Mr. and Mrs. Smith; Desperate Housewives; Weeds; Big Love; neighborhood; family values; American values; American family; American culture; u.s. culture; cinema culture; television history; nonfiction; non-fiction; non fiction; Hollywood; rutgers; rutgers university; rutgers university press; race relations; minorities; neighborhoods; nostalgia; masculinity; gender studies; american dream; The American Dream; suburbia; american suburbia; suburbia studies; suburban; american suburbs

Audience(s) for this book

For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research

Rutgers University Press

Look Closer

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Welcome to the Neighborhood

1. Traditional Values: Nostalgia and Self-Reflexivity in Visual Representations of Suburbia

2. Back Yard Fences: The Public, the Private, and the Family in Suburban Dramas

3. Suburban Citizenship: Defining Community through the Exclusion of Racial and Sexual Minorities

4. Desperate Husbands: The Crisis of Hegemonic Masculinity in Post-9/11 Suburbia

5. Protecting the Suburban Lifestyle: Consumption, Crime, and the American Dream

Conclusion: There Goes the Neighborhood

Notes

Index

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bibliographic data