Details of the Documentary
Sustainability is one of the major issues in ecology and environmental science. Theoretically, any development initiative should be sustainable, which means that it accomplishes its intended purpose without causing problems in the future. One of such development initiatives was the creation of the suburban landscape that was conceptualized from the 1950s to 1960s. The documentary film “Suburban America: Problems & Promise” provides a general history of the development of the suburban landscape in the Unites States (US). This documentary film was intended as an educational tool for students 12 years and above.
Purpose of the Documentary
The film basically shows that the suburban landscape was a failure; mainly, because there was insufficient political will to have the plan carried out. Showing that the suburban concept is a failure seems to be the documentary’s sole purpose because it did not propose ways by which the problem can be solved. The documentary film leaves the viewers with the dilemma of coming up with a solution for a very complex problem. It is due to this reason that the film can also be considered as a film for political sciences experts, lawyers, and politicians and not just for ordinary students. Basically, the main message of the documentary is that the un-sustainability of suburban concept is a result of long time neglect by those who conceptualized it. This problem has created other supplementary problems which can be solved individually although there is no assurance that doing so would really make the concept sustainable in the future. For example, poor quality of education is a common characteristic of suburbs, yet improving education will never eliminate other problems such as poverty. The documentary, therefore, leaves an open ended question as to how the problems in the suburban landscape can be solved.
Prior Knowledge of the Subject
Before watching the film, I had very little knowledge about suburbs in the US. In fact I only have two ideas connected to suburbs: that they are culturally diverse, and that they are usually stricken with poverty. I imagined suburbs as places where the majority of non-whites can be located. Hence, I was eager to view the documentary, especially when I read its title. The title says “Problems” and “Promise” so; I expected a complete analysis of the problem. I expected a root cause analysis from a historical perspective and I was right. With regards to the “Promise,” I was really very curious about what the term means in the documentary, so I treated it as a surprise factor. So, one of my initial questions was, “what is the ‘promise’ pertaining to, in the documentary?” I later realized that it was the promised made by the long list of political leaders from the very beginning of the suburban conceptualization up to the present. After watching the documentary, a new question came into mind, which is “what can lay people do now, in order to resolve the problems in suburbs?”
Summary of the Documentary
The main subject of the documentary is the development of suburbia from the 1950s up to the present. It narrates what the concept of suburbia is, how some parts of this concept materialized, and how it became un-sustainable. In order to show these things to the viewers, its director went to different suburbs to ask some local politicians, some analysts, and many lay people on what they think is the problem with the suburbs. The suburbs visited included Minneapolis, Reston, Chicago, and Long Island. It should be pointed out, however, that the majority of the time was allocated in featuring Long Island. The main events or themes that were shown in the film were the success of suburb in attracting a racially rich population, but was sadly ruined by political pressure. Another successful event was turning of a planned community into a model for creating transit oriented suburban density and development, in Reston. There were also events of discrimination in housing, aging infrastructures that were rarely maintained, and divided local governments.
Personal Comments and Recommendations
I personally think that the documentary film was a real eye-opener about the seriousness and dept of the problem of suburbs in the US. I think that the documentary did an excellent job in presenting different perspectives on the different problems confronted by suburban residents by interviewing the residents directly. For me, first hand information is very important in understanding the problems and in coming up with possible solutions. Hence, I can say that the part of the documentary that I liked most was the interviews with suburban residents. Based from the interviews, I learned that the many problems faced in the suburbs have only one root cause – which is the neglect of the political leaders. The political leaders lacked the political will to carryout the aspirations of those ho initially conceptualized the suburbs. This is the reason why the education has poor quality, health institutions and facilities are insufficient, and the suburbs are stacked in poverty. This realization shocked me because I initially taught that the US is a country led by excellent and sincere leaders from the very day of its founding.
All in all, the documentary did an excellent thing in presenting the issues confronted in the suburban landscape. Nevertheless, this does not mean that it does not have some drawbacks. One of the main drawbacks is that it did not propose solutions. Another drawback is that the film might mistakenly communicate that there is no hope for the suburbs because it focused on the problems and not on the possible solutions. Lastly, the film did not tackle much on what a sustainable suburban landscape should be like. Despite these drawbacks, I still recommend the documentary to students who will take this course in the future – there are a lot of information that can be drawn from it.
Reference
Rudaitis, R. (2011). Suburban America: Problems & Promise. New York, N.Y. : Films Media Group.
