Ending with a touch of comedy! - Vikrum Sheorey

Great analysis on that image Sheng! In continuing with our assessment of suburbia in different mediums, I will now move onto comedy! The video above is a parody of a suburban sprawl. The creator of the video does a good job matching elements of the song and video with the negative aspects of suburban sprawl.

One set of lyrics that really stands out is the following:

"All the people here buy stuff to impress you
All the streets looks just like A hundred others do
Applebee's is my idea of ethnic food
That's just where I come from, my hood!"

These lyrics really speak to the conformity and the consumerism that permeate throughout suburban culture. The line about Applebee's being considered ethnic really highlights the conformity.

Littered throughout the video are references to Big Box retail such as Walmart, Target, etc. These stores combined with the imagery of the Hummer and the miles of pavements humorous bring to light the issues that make sprawl such a prevalent problem.

Anyways I hope you had fun watching the video and more importantly reading our blog. This blog is the summation of many weeks of writing and I hope that you enjoyed reading all of our insights into suburban culture and other things!

-Vikrum Sheorey

Suburbia Image - Sheng Zhao

Wow! Covering sprawl from both the movie's perspective and music's perspective is truly impressive. I guess I will have to match it with picture's perspective.

This shocking image seems quite familiar to most of us. It is suburban sprawl. Roads could be paved narrow and straight, yet suburban developer made it wide and windy like a maze. Big old trees were torn down to have an empty field and then tiny trees were sparsely placed between houses. Back alley is no where to be seen, yet the large double size garage door is visible from any angle. Unless you want to walk with cars, the only way to get to anywhere outside of your house requires a car because side walks do not exist here. There is hardly any way to differentiate your house and somebody else because the only difference is the number next to your door. Unfortunately, this kind of residential life style is still expanding...

We need to bring it to a stop!

~Sheng Zhao

Suburbia in Films - Vikrum Sheorey

Staying with my last post about suburbia in music, I thought I would take a look at suburbia in films as well. The first film that came to mind was Edward Scissorhands. I remembered that in the movie the suburbs were portrayed like the 1960's stereotypes. While the suburbs are getting more and more ethnically diverse, it seems as though they are still relatively culturally diverse. The suburbs are usually filled with people who work 9-5 jobs and desire the quiet, isolated life.

Edward Scissorhands is a movie that displays the downfall of this conformity. When something or someone different like Edward is introduced to a homogeneous society like the suburbs, chaos breaks out. However the message that the movie sends is much deeper. Although Edward is very different from the residents, he is appreciated by the people when he acts as himself. The problem arises when Edward tries to conform to the society. The best example of this is when he tries to break into the house to help his friends. Edward gets in trouble and the whole situation spirals downwards from there.

A more in-depth analysis of how Edward Scissorhands makes claims about suburban conformity can be found here: http://www.leland.k12.mi.us/tim01c.html

- Vikrum Sheorey

Green Day's Jesus of Suburbia - Vikrum Sheorey

When we first learned about the concept of suburbia, I was instantly reminded of the song "Jesus of Suburbia" by Green Day. Now having learned more about the negatives of suburbia, I can fully comprehend the lyrics that Green Day has written. For instance the lines,

"
Get my television fix sitting on my crucifix
The living room or my private womb,"

speak to how sheltered suburbia and how addicted its residents are to their televisions. Referring to the living room as a private womb compares the safety of the living room to the safety a mother's womb gives to a child before it is born. This also speaks to the lack of real life experiences suburbanites have. Just as a child in the womb has not yet experienced life and only knows of the world in its immediate surroundings, so do sheltered suburbanites.

Another quote that fits in with what Suburban Nation says is,

"I read the graffiti
In the bathroom stall
Like the holy scriptures of a shopping mall."

These lines focus on how important shopping malls are to suburbanites. Green Day implies that the shopping mall is a holy place that people flock to like a place of worship. The use of the word scriptures implies that the mall controls their lives, because religious scriptures often suggest how one should live.

There are many more references to the negative aspects of suburbia scattered throughout the song. It is a very clever song that one can only appreciate after knowing about suburban issues and closely analyzing the lyrics.

-Vikrum Sheorey

Cabbagetown - Vikrum Sheorey

Great post about Five Points Sheng - your website is really well done and informative! Like Sheng I will be writing about my group's website project. For my group we decided to investigate the historic neighborhood of Cabbagetown.

Cabbagetown proved to be a wild and interesting place. The unique aspect of this town is the sheer overflow of creativity that permeates everywhere. From the graffiti on the walls to the tattoos on the people, there are no limits to creative expression.

The town also hosts many community oriented events like the chomp and stomp chili cookoff as shown in the video below.




All of this fosters a great sense of community that is unique from any other place in Atlanta. To read more about the unique spots in Cabbagetown visit our website at http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~vsheorey3/cabbage

- Vikrum Sheorey

Five Points - Sheng Zhao

Kinza, cool vid! I definitely agree with your statement that Atlantic Station is combating against sprawling. I enjoyed listening to your presentation about how Atlantic Station has a sense of community.

I certainly also want everyone of you who read this post check out my group's website about Five Points, downtown Atlanta. http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~jkim498/5points/.You will find five interesting historical events related to Five Points. They are Railroad in Underground Atlanta, Rich's department store, MARTA, annual peach drop, and statues of phoenix.Five Points has experienced many upsets. After General Sherman and his troops destroyed the city during the Civil War and burning down during the Great Atlanta fire of 1917, Five Points is still able to recover from the ashes like the phoenix. Even though the city right now is in poverty, it could still rise again like it has in the past.

~Sheng Zhao

Bring an End to Suburbia - Sheng Zhao

From the video above, it is obvious that suburbia has cost America too much and it has to be brought to an end.

From the beginning of the video, the fast paced music symbolizes the rapid growth of suburbia sprawl. Cars and clustered houses are the crucial elements in sustaining this kind of life. Sprawl promised Americans with the "American dream" of having individual space, convenience, affordability, and mobility. Everything else seems utterly unimportant to the people living in sprawl.

The suburban lifestyle is no longer sustainable in the twenty-first century as the population continues to grow, gas prices continue to rise, more farmland continue to be developed, and more wasteland continue to be generated. Actions need to be taken right now to avoid the imminent crisis. I'd like to end the post with a quote from the video, "America took all of its postwar wealth and invested in a living arrangement that has no future."

~Sheng Zhao