AARTI BHATIA
HONORS159J
CONNECTIONS
The media has played a large role in defining suburbia through the years.
For the second project for the class American Suburbia, students were
asked to pick a work from the media, and analyze it with respect to
suburbia. My project discusses the eighties, the family unit, class
distinctions, and teen
issues as they relate to American suburbs. There are other projects in
the class that report on these same issues.
Milk
Money
Sameer Gokhale's project on the movie Milk Money is about a suburban
family
and their experiences with an outsider. This project explores the
differences between social classes. It shows how people of different
backgrounds can associate and share a lot. In Heathers the people of
various social classes did not mix well, but this was due to the nature
of the Heathers, and their families.
The
Brady Bunch
The television show, The Brady Bunch was the basis for Raj
Narayanan's
project two topic. The project portrayed a suburban family with
teenagers. The problems associated with growing up as a teenager were
discussed, as in this project. Although the Brady Bunch kids were teens
in the seventies, they had issues similar to those of the Heathers. Not
all that much has changed from the seventies to the eighties, except
perhaps for the fashions.
Pretty
in Pink
The project Pretty in Pink, done by Michelle Sit, was the most
similar to
my project in terms of suburban concepts. Her project explained the
social class differences in the eighties. As in Heathers, the high
school kids in Pretty in Pink judged each other based on social status.
The girls were as snotty and rude as the Heathers were. The suburban
class divisions, although they seemed highly significant in the beginning
of both the films, did not mean all that much in the end.
Project Two:
HEATHERS