People in Suburbia are unsatisfied with their lives. They often feel better by watching other people's lives and wishing for bigger and better material possessions. Money, of course, does not buy any of these people the happiness they want. The connection between these movies and the city is that these people end up going stir crazy because they are so overwhelmed by the sheltered world that they live in.Suburbia is known for it's many small houses closely put together that are sometimes color coordinated. Although the houses all look the same the families inside each of them have a different story. Suburbia is predominately white and middle to upper class. The people usually have nice things like cars and SUVs, boats, pools, etc.
Movies that portray suburbia normally show the characters feeling trapped where they live and end up going crazy. They try to break free and get away from their unfulfilled lives. The movies will also usually follow a teenager more than anyone else because teenagers can relate and are willing to pay to watch the movie.
This movie portrays suburbia in a different way than usual. The main character does not know that his life is a television show. He continually goes on living a life that has been planned for him. He begins to realize how repetitive and habitual the place is where he lives. He sits in his car in the driveway and notices that the same man, woman and car drive by at their exact same time each day. Truman also notices that he does the same things, at the same time every day. One day he decides to do something different and that is when unusual things happen. He goes stir crazy trying to figure out the unusual string of events in his life and how he got to where he is. Eventually, he is exposed to the idea that his life is fake and that there is something bigger and better out there waiting for him. Truman is extremely mentally isolated from the world through no fault of his own.
After Truman finds out and escapes the suburbia he has lived in for so long, the creator of the show is interviewed on television. This is the part that I found to be so interesting because the creator talks about how the show was started with a corporation adopting a baby. I think this is crazy! How could a corporations possibly adopted a baby? Then I ask myself, what is a corporation exactly? When I saw this part in the movie it made me think of the documentary The Corporation because it is all about the terrible things that corporations do and talks about what a corporation really is. The corporations have so much power to manipulate the masses that we do not even realize it. The corporations do this with product placement. I believe that Truman felt like he has being told what to do and how to think by people, or corporations, everyday. He felt trapped but eventually broke free.
When the movie begins I notice there are white picket fences on all the house, the people are white, and middle class. Since this movie is supposed to be a television show, it is heavy on the product placement. I notice whenever Truman talks to his wife she is usually advertising a product such as a lawn mower, cocoa and kitchen appliances. Every morning when Truman is headed to work he runs into the twins who always stop him right in front of an advertisement.
This movie also portrays suburbia closely with the stereotype. In the beginning it shows the main character, a teenager named Kale, who gets sentenced to three months of house arrest. While cooped up in the house Kale watches each of his neighbors daily patterns. He starts to notice the kids that watch porn, the neighbor that's cheating on his/her spouse, the beautiful girl next door that has a dysfunctional family, and the crazy murderer. Even though all the houses have white picket fences and they all look the same, each family has issues.
Kale feels trapped in his house just like Truman felt in his fake world. In the movie Kale explains what he has observed about his neighbors as, " The world outside my window." Both characters have a bigger and better world outside their own. Kale is physically isolated opposed to being mentally isolate from the world.
I want to connect the the first line of the movie to my blog. The first line is Kale: "Do you think he sees us?" Jeff: "No, he can't see us. But he can feel us watching." This is a great opening line for this movie. Even though these words are associated with fishing it makes me think of Kale's neighbor. When Kale is spying on his murderer neighbor, Robert Turner, he looks right at Kale because he can feel Kale watching him.
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