Home Economics: A Documentary of Suburbia

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–Eric Mink
New York Daily News full review

MORE ABOUT THE FILM

Is it still possible to achieve the American Dream? What does it cost those who try? In Home Economics, suburban homeowners talk candidly about the complex realities of trying to live the American Dream in the 1990s.

Intimate interviews touch on a range of issues: racism, the Protestant work ethic, fear of crime, the disintegration of the nuclear family, the meaning of home and the social tolls of a daily two hour commute. Subtly and sensitively Home Economics explores the relationship between our built environment and the fabric of our daily lives, revealing a sad irony--home ownership is often achieved at the expense of the very values a home is said to represent.

Appropriate for:
College/University

47 minutes • VHS

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47 min./ VHS

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REVIEWS

John P. McCarthy
Variety
full review

"HOME ECONOMICS is a stunningly original and shocking glimpse of the consequences of postmodern urbanism. It is compulsory viewing for anyone interested in the contemporary city."
Michael Dear, Professor of Geography
University of Southern California

"A wonderful piece of contemporary Americana. This video constructs and documents...the self-delusive discourse in the contemporary suburban reaches of distinctively American aspiration."
George Marcus, Professor of Anthropology
Rice University

"...of great utility to teaching on a variety of urban issues from urban planning to community and ethnic relations...HOME ECONOMICS is terrific! It bursts the bubble of the great American Dream of suburban home ownership and sensitively reveals the deep human costs of automobilization and suburbanization."
Philippe Bourgois, Professor of Anthropology
San Francisco State University

"...filmmaker and anthropologist Jenny Cool probes delicately, gently but insistently in HOME ECONOMICS...Cool scores her artistic points through the often ironic juxtaposition of images with a steady, confident interviewing approach which eventually produces heartfelt honesty from the people with whom she speaks."
New York Daily News

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AWARDS / SCREENINGS

P.O.V. Series, PBS Television Network
Act of Video Festival, Downtown Community Television

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