"The suburban household has struggled hard to contain the anxieties generated by its increasing dependence on, and vulnerability to, the events, both real and imaginary, which take place beyond its front door: anxieties generated by fears of public failure on the one hand, and of threats of physical and symbolic violence on the other. Defenses are constructed, against otherness in whatever form, and rehearsed daily in the public media, as tabloids, soap operas, and confessional talk shows chew their way through the dilemmas of the day. At the same time, and from time to time, suburban culture itself erupts, and the lava of mod and punk flows across its surface scaring skin and clogging pores until it is itself consumed by the relentless juggernaut of mass commodification."-Roger Silverstone, Editor
Visions of Suburbia (Rutledge, 1997) |
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