The theme song of the show is called "Little Boxes" which describes South Riding and all the other neighborhoods like it perfectly:
Little Boxes
by Malvina Reynolds
Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of tickytacky
Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same
There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses all went to the university
Where they were put in boxes and they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and there's lawyers, and business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course and drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp and then to the university
Where they are put in boxes and they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
7 comments:
I love that show, but don't get Showtime so I have to wait for it to be n DVD.
i rented the first DVD of that show from the Redbox at my grocery store. It was good, but they didn't have disk two, so I gave up. Or rather, I got distracted by Grey's Anatomy.
Weeds' premise is interesting, but the fact that she gets her weeds from a black family in a very different neighborhood kind of pisses me off. In fact, now that I think about it *all* of the stereotypes in that show piss me off. Hell, the whole show is about one stereotype bent ever so slightly.
South Riding scares me, and that's all I'm going to say about that.
I think the stereotypes of the show are on purpose. I think the show is designed to piss you off because of the stereotypes and get you to realize how incredibly stupid stereotypes are. At least, that's how I approach the show.
You bring up an interesting point. What makes someone unique? Your mode of dress (all the clothes and jewlery provided from a national chain)? Your DVD collection or Netflix queue? Your NY-Times or Oprah-approved booklist? Your institutional (work or church) membership? Your particular choice of floorplan in your planned community?
What does being unique mean in a pre-fabricated consumerist society? Do we even care?
As for the little boxes, here is some good reading.
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I don't know... maybe our consumerist society makes us MORE unique. I mean, in the 1700s, how unique could we really be with our limited options? You could be a farmer or a blacksmith or a cobbler -- your identity was your profession, or if you were a woman, your identity was how many children you had. Perhaps consumerism allows us the freedom to be a bit more unique because we are able to be more than what we do to survive.
All that stuff has to come from and go somewhere. I'd argue that a consumerist society is unsustainable, that it comes at too high a cost.
Besides, I guess what I'm getting at is that identity shouldn't be tied to what you consume; it should be what you do, how you act, what kind of person you are, what you think and believe, what you create. Not what you buy, or the combination of things you buy. Especially when you're buying the same stuff as everyone else.
That's what's so empty about the luxury lifestyle. I am mystified by consumption of products as an indicator of social status. Are gucchi handbags superior to all handbags? No, you're paying for a name, so you can show it off to your friends. But does that make you unique and special? No more than anyone else with money and a desire to conspicuously consume. That doesn't say to me, ah, here's a person who's found the perfect compliment to their ensemble, someone who's smart, hip, and with it! It says, ah, here's someone overly concerned with appearances, someone who wants me and everyone around her to know that she paid A LOT OF MONEY for this bag.
I think people are so quick to live in tickytacky houses for the same kinds of reasons.
Today's consumerist environment makes not more or less able to be unique than in centuries past. It only provides an easy trap to fall into.
In previous times uniqueness abounded because production was difficult so few of any type of item were produced. Now you can, with a visa card and a trip to the mall, assume any number of luxuries and images that were simply not available in the past. You can mix and match the available options to make a "unique" image, but what have you actually **done**? Nothing, really. You've merely consumed. By the same token, you could take your Visa and go outfit yourself with everything necessary to actually do something interesting. Write a paper, create a song, make a gigantic brass sculpture ... I don't know. But doing any of those things poorly is many times harder than just going shopping.
Maybe what I'm getting at is this: uniqueness today can is more about what you **do** and what kind of person you are than it is about outward appearances. That takes more time to figure out about a person than glancing at their clothes. Ironically, people here and now are less inclined to learn more about you.
Then the question becomes ... is that because they are hurried, or because they've classified you based on your outward appearance and determined that you're not worth meeting?
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