DEFINING THE SUBURBS We made a decision early in the process not to think of the suburbs negatively - as is the tendency, but to look at them analytically and ask questions like; What are suburbs? What is/was the function of suburbs? How has suburbia influenced/shaped identity? How have suburbs evolved in Australia and The Netherlands? What are the cliches of suburban existence and how do they measure up to reality? How do we represent the suburbs in performance? Can we sustain a suburban existance in the 21st Century? Novels & Books Revolutionary Road – Richard Yates (American Suburb in 1950s)
The Art of the Engine Driver– Steven Carroll (Australian suburb in 1960s)
The Buddha of Suburbia – Hanif Kureishi (British suburb in 1980s)
My Place - Nadia Wheatley Film and Television
Revolutionary Road Little Children The Hours American Beauty Weeds (TV-series) Kath and Kim (Australian TV-series/comedy) Love My Way Neighbours (Australian soap series) Desperate Housewives (American TV series) Better Homes and Gardens Dame Edna Everage
Thinkers The Architecture of Happiness, by Alain de Botton (how our homes influence our identity) Renovation Nation:Our Obsession with Home by Fiona Allon Songs/Lyrics Angus and Julia Stone: HEART FULL OF WINE - http://www.youtube.com/user/AngusAndJuliaStone?blend=2&ob=1 Ben Folds Five: ROCKIN THE SUBURBS- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9JaauwDlV4 Blur: STEREOTYPES - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwPbVMDwlEo Claire Bowditch - DIVORCEE BY 23 Josh Pyke: MIDDLE OF THE HILL - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1kfwC72Ps0 Greenday: JESUS OF SUBURBIA - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNKPYhXmzoE Pet Shop Boys: SUBURBIA - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VCqAjYO3NMVISITING EXPERTS - HISTORIAN & GEOGRAPHIST Historian Dr Tiffany Shellam delivered a comprehensive lecture to the class on the history of the Australian suburbs:
Geographist Associate Professor Louise Johnson gave us a facinating rambling lecture which was most informative. See my notes: People, Place and Space: Now and in the Past
The End of the Suburbia as we know it? Melbourne 2030
PERSONAL RESEARCH PERSONAL HISTORY My Suburb - Glen Waverley.
PERSONAL ANECDOTES - Observations of neighbours and street - one of my observations of a woman walking out to her letter box and bursting into tears was used as workshop material and there was a scene loosely based on this in the final show. RENOVATION NATION - Observing the modern obsession with Renovating through reading magazines such as House and Garden, watching the miriad of television programs about renovation and tuning into conversations that occur in our daily lives - I took inspiration from my sister and brother-in-law's experience of renovation as inspiration for building our first scene in 2010 about the conflict and stress it can create. |
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