About that

From an email from Lydia, dated 6/1/10:

“maybe it was about the essential sameness of Sullivan's Travels and hipster fashion? About playing at poverty? I can't remember. I think there were four things you put together into one thought, in two pairs. But I cannot remember what they were.”

Yeah, about that. First of all, I don't remember either. Second, apparently, we’ve all been talking about poverty chic for years, and it's gone way past hipster. Now it's hobo weddings and super-cool looking homeless guys. Arrested Development had us pegged with this one.

Last summer, Quirk Books released a new title, Home Economics: Vintage Advice and Practical Science for the 21st Century Household. It is an anthology designed to repurpose the traditional wisdom of a variety of women’s magazines and Home Ec guides for the modern woman, most especially women who, in a recession, see clearly the value of thrift. In her review of the book, Victoria Dutchman-Smith attacked the text as part of what she sees as a trend in modern media: “In the social context of the 21st century household, this book is not about saving money; it is all about thrift chic, how to be a good little recessionista, a middle-class poverty tourist who, to misquote Jarvis Cocker, doesn’t just think but knows that poor is cool.” 

Burn.

I'm interested in all of this, especially with regard to movies. As is already obvious I go to Design*Sponge for my  information on how people are buying their way into looking like a movie. Don’t get me wrong. I love these movies, I love looking at them, and I love Design Sponge. That's precisely why it sits so ill with me that a site I usually like tells me to look better by imitating something really unsettling.

A year and a half after the above email, we're irked by the aesthetic of Breaking Bad. They’re too folksie, in a super cultivated way. If we’re the Target class, why don’t we want to look that way? Why don’t we want our movies to look that way? And why at the expense of others? Make no mistake, it's frequently about this kind of expense. I submit the following for consideration: 

Living in The Fantastic Mr. Fox (The cost of furniture featured in the post alone--carved out of a tree by thrifty foxes!--is $15,672.00) 

Living in East of Eden (featuring a Vintage Factory Cart, $795; and an antiqued bread board: 5. Bread Board, $55)  

Living in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou (featuring Vintage 1940s Overalls, $125; and amazing commentary "The film oozes Southern charm of the Dust Bowl variety — suspenders and rocking chairs; front porches and mint juleps; escaped convicts and well-pomaded hair. Bluegrass sets the whole story on its feet, and wow, I was born in the wrong time.")   

Living in Cider House Rules (amazing commentary: "Not many movies portray a New England fall better than The Cider House Rules. Set in Maine among apple orchards, rambling old buildings, seaside towns and lobster docks, it’s obvious why we crave the 1999 adaptation of John Irving’s novel when fall rolls around. Toby Maguire plays an orphan trained as a doctor who struggles with the morality of providing health services to pregnant mothers who arrive at the orphanage. Moral dilemmas aside, we’d jump for joy to be adopted into the scene.") 

Living in Driving Miss Daisy (probably enough said, but check out this: "Driving Miss Daisy, where have you been all my life? Crotchety, sophisticated old ladies, sprawling southern mansions, classic cars, Morgan Freeman in suspenders, mahjong circles, driving gloves, the piggly wiggly. Seriously, a girl could base her life off stuff like this.") 

Living in The Last of the Mohicans (enough said without items or commentary)

 A lot of commentators say these trends are harmless, but when I look at the colonial Africa-themed wedding, I don't believe that. This post, by the way, is a lot more serious than I intended it to be, but I started googling and just got...distressed. That said, I love Sullivan's Travels. I just really love it. It says a lot of what's been said, but less directly and more effectively. You'd do better to watch it than to read this.