Although L.A. is filled with very lovely mediterranean-style architecutre, my pervasive sense of it -- having lived there 1963-1974 is that of a barren land. This, relative to Bucharest and Paris (two cities I grew up in). This impression comes from the absence of people in the streets; the increasing disappearance of social spaces; and the pervasive Hollywood atmosphere of the place.
But L.A.'s barrenness was an overflowing cornucopia compared to the suburbs I started encountering when dating in HS and having to drive out to boyfriends' houses in Van Nuys, Thousand Oaks, and other suburbs surrounding L.A. Was it merely a coincidence that the families I knew living in the suburbs had serious drug-dependence problems, suicide attempts....all this despite the squeaky clean facades, respectable employment of parents, academic achievement of children?
No social spaces, no sidewalks, no acknowledgment of any shared universe except for the mall and the church. No oxygen. The only thing more barren than the suburbs are the current exurbs.
But I must stop, because Carol is right. This is dull. I cannot find the words to explain exactly why it is that these places are so lifeless except to suggest that the sense of a lived life must have something to do with sharing life with others (not family) in a deeply meaningful way. But the way suburbs are constructed, this is nearly impossible. The whole idea is that each man's house is his castle and around each castle is a virtual moat of isolation, privacy, containment, and repression.
It never surprises me to hear that someone in the suburbs has decided to get an automatic weapon and mow down everyone. It seems, in the absence of political action, the only rational response.
Joanna
----- Original Message ----- From: "James Heartfield" <Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2011 11:52:22 AM Subject: [lbo-talk] Crap architecture
Doug: Oh, the awfulness of American suburbia, for example?
Yes, that was the example of social judgement masquerading as aesthetic critique I had in mind...
So, since you raise it, let’s go through it. The place where most Americans live, is awful to you.
This, you say, is not a judgement on them, but on the ‘social arrangement’ they live in.
That rather begs the question, are cities not awful? Some people think so. But most people with an ear can recognise that that is just hateful class prejudice, masquerading as aesthetic judgement.
Why can you not hear the same prejudice in the blanket dismissal of the living styles of the greater part of your fellow citizens?
Are the cities not also under the social arrangement of alienated labour? ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk