Scenes from the Suburbs

Book excerpt: Suburbia. Say the word and a stream of images pass before your eyes: white picket fence, neatly mowed lawns, winding roads nicely lined with trees, pastel-tinted bungalows, bored housewives, conspicuous consumption. We all know what the suburbs are about. Or do we?This book looks again at the filmic and televised spaces we think we know so well. How are these spaces built up? What is it that makes us recognize them as suburbs? How do they function? By exploring in detail the hometowns of Desperate Housewives, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Happiness, Pleasantville, Brick and Chumscrubber, Scenes from the Suburbs examines what it means to be suburban today.An essential read for academics concerned with the ways in which our understandings of space and place change, this book will be particularly relevant for students and researchers in Suburban Studies, Film and Television Studies and Urban Geography.