Happiness: Tales of Suburbia

The duplicity of American suburban morality has become the muse of a number of contemporary young filmmakers. Through their films, these filmmakers attempt to expose the underbelly of average American middle-class families, proclaiming in the process the dismissal of “ordinary” civil existence. The Opposite of Sex, In the Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbors, Spanking the Monkey, Welcome to the Dollhouse, and Happiness are just a few titles extracted from an extensive, ever-growing list.

These films are by-products of a prevailing cultural wave fostered by multiple media channels that seem to be invested in a massive game of “show all and tell all.” The market strategies of high-tech media endorse the blurring of the public and the private, so what once was destined to remain off-stage begins to occupy center stage. Furthermore, the explicit nature of the messages addresses hitherto taboo issues, which by-pass censorship or modesty barriers. The obscene (literally offscene) is now on-scene, dominating multiple visual fields.

The visual bombardment of advertising, video, films, and the internet has eroded the boundaries between what was considered suitable for representation and what was delegated to behind closed doors. The ultimate titillation in the megastore of desire is not to leave anything for the imagination. Whether in the biographical genre, periodism, fashion, or the arts in general, the more laundry aired, the better. No more taboos seem to survive the pressure exerted by the technological eye, which wants to record and absorb everything so it may be reproduced, replicated, or repeated ad infinitum.

The media have given access to the brand of the President's underwear, his sexual fetishes, and other pregenital issues. The most private of acts or organs are being paraded—virtually or otherwise. The body, its parts, and its products or contents are commodities to be consumed on big and small screens. One is left to wonder whether repression has been take