Look Closer: Suburban Narratives and American Values in Film and Television

3. Suburban Citizenship: Defining Community through the Exclusion of Racial and Sexual Minorities

103 3 Suburban Citizenship Defining Community through the Exclusion of Racial and Sexual Minorities In the promotional video for the town of Mount Laurel, a new suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, one resident speaks of her family’s decision to move: “In order to move to Birmingham we had to find a place where we could have a sense of community.” Another resident says, “It was apparent right off the bat that this place had a strong sense of community , and most of the people that are here are community-oriented.” The brochure that is included in the promotional packet with the DVD notes, “When you purchase a home in Mt. Laurel, you get more than just the house. You get a town—a community in every sense of the word.” The emphasis on community in this video is not the exception, but rather the rule in suburban promotions. In fact, the National Association of Realtors lists “community” as “one of the prime selling points on any property.”1 But the precise meaning of the term “community” is not entirely clear. The concept is more complicated than its use would suggest , and it conveys different things to different people. In the case of many suburban developments, community is presented as something that is hard to find in contemporary society. It is often invoked in a way that is very much in line with the nostalgic sensibilities examined in chapter 1. Potential buyers are asked to think fondly of the communities that they grew up in, remembering the good times but forgetting any negative aspects. For example, a nostalgic vision of community focuses on a sense of togetherness, happiness, and connection. But this vision conveniently overlooks the potentially negative consequences 104 LOOK CLOSER of community formation. Identifying a community usually involves identifying who will be included and who will be excluded. Those who are included are defined by their adherence to a set of norms, shared values, and similar identities. Those who fall outside these established norms are likely to find themselves excluded from the community. The promotional materials demonstrate the significance of community in the construction of an ideal vision of suburbia. Recent fictional treatments of suburbia on both the large and small screens have picked up on this idea, often revealing the darker side of community by emphasizing the perils of conformity and exclusion. This chapter examines the suburban communities presented in the film Far from Heaven (2002) and the ABC television series Desperate Housewives (2004–2012), paying particular attention to the process of exclusion that is integral to the creation of such communities. In particular, I am concerned with two specific groups that have traditionally been excluded from the idealized vision of American suburbia: people of color and gays and lesbians. Set in the 1950s in a suburb of Hartford, Connecticut, and employing the visual and performance styles of melodramas of that era, Far from Heaven tells the story of Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore), a housewife with a seemingly ideal life, including an elegant home with a large, well-landscaped yard, a handsome and upwardly mobile husband, and two well-behaved children. Her life falls apart when she learns that her husband Frank (Dennis Quaid) is gay, and she eventually finds herself developing a relationship with her black gardener, Raymond (Dennis Haysbert). The difficulties that these characters face as a result of homophobia and racism demonstrate how social exclusion can damage or even ruin the lives of those who do not fit in. Desperate Housewives follows the lives of four women living on the same cul-de-sac, tracing the affairs, scandals, and mysteries that link the women, their families, and the surrounding neighborhood. Set in the present, but borrowing heavily from suburban iconography of the past, the series offers a more complicated picture of race, ethnicity, and sexuality than Far from Heaven, in part because of its much larger cast, and in part because of the complexity afforded by the ongoing, serial nature of the show. In addition to the white characters who make up the bulk of the cast, there is a Mexican American couple, Gabrielle and SUBUR BA N CI T IZENSHIP 105 Carlos Solis (Eva Longoria and Ricardo Antonio Chavira). The Solises employ two maids, both of whom are Chinese. Two African American women, Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard) and Renee Perry (Vanessa Williams...