Ten Movie Moments That Killed the American Suburb-Minyanville

Ten Movie Moments That Killed the American Suburb

Tal Pinchevsky Jul 02, 2009 10:35 am

Ten Movie Moments That Killed the American Suburb


		How Hollywood crushed the American dream -- one film at a time.

7. Happiness

Depression, child abuse, sexual awakening, self-loathing, and general anguish. Oh, and it’s funny -- kind of.

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Todd Solondz’s 1998 black comedy set the bar very high for works about desperate-and-demented suburban living. Replete with explicitly sexual themes and situations -- some involving little boys and golden retrievers -- the film originally received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA.

Nevertheless, it became an underground hit.

8. American Beauty

No film better deconstructs the total fraud of suburban life -- and no other received more accolades for doing so. The winner of 5 Academy Awards, Sam Mendes’s breakout 1999 film showed how deeply within the perfectly manicured exterior of suburban existence lay the creeping rot.

Suburban dads lusting after barely pubescent 15-year-old girls? Check. Joyless extramarital sex with small-time real-estate moguls? Check. Self-hating closeted gay men with very large guns? Check.

Confused, pissed-off, desperately lonely and unparented kids? Check.

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Robert Deny

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07-05-2009, 10:02 pm
If that ever happens, in all likelihood, it will be caused by a practical reason such as the high cost of energy or transportation associated with the commute too and from the Burbs or heating and cooling isolated single family structures rather than Read More

John Guthrie

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07-06-2009, 1:03 am
Once the human becomes disconnected from the earth which gave them life, they will fall for many distractions, not the least of which is the cheap entertainment hollywierd offers up. A beer, the game, a video, a trip to the mall, how easy it was f Read More

David Rucks

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07-06-2009, 11:58 am
Johm got it right with hollywierd. These movies are works of fiction and have nothing to do with anywhere I have ever seen in the REAL world. Read More

Sandra Mccartan

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07-06-2009, 10:36 pm
Great list - how about Who's afraid of Virginia Wolf as an honorable mention? Read More

J Carm

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08-02-2009, 1:26 pm
Missing Blue Velvet. Now that makes suburbia pretty freaky. Read More


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