Middle class 'ideals' under attack in the arts

Suburban angst and disillusionment is something that most Oberlin students have been exposed to, whether by seeing it on television or on a movie screen or living it first-hand.

Oberlin students are touted as one of the most diverse groups of students in the country. Many of us come from the suburbs but have avoided falling into the traditional mold of phoniness that the suburban stereotype would have us fit. Some of us rebel against the image the previous generation created. There are all the students who come from more rural or urban backgrounds and add to the diversity of the school. This campus is renowned for its artsiness, so I guess we are doing a good job at combatting the stereotypes and distinguishing ourselves.

Oberlin recently put on the musical Angry Housewives, and Suburbia is playing this weekend. Both plays question the doldrums of suburban life, and characters in each search for a way to escape.

The rest of the world, though, may be stuck in the middle class buffer zone for society, that sterile purgatory that deals with problems by looking around them. Instead of directly interacting with the problems that surround them, they can watch Reality Bites or "Beverly Hills, 90210" and feel better about themselves because they've acknowledged that these problems exist. And that's as far as they go.

Society is really into teaching lessons through the media. Most of today's movies, television shows, plays and literature center around the theme of suburban angst. They exploit normalcy and make it glamorous by having exceptional people play everyday parts, so that it becomes less and less like real life. Clueless and Kids portray the teen identity crisis through different eyes and moods, but can most teens or twentysomethings relate to that? What the media portrays isn't necessarily true or effective in getting that righteous message across. People would learn more if they went out into their own environment and worked in it. There is so much terrible stuff going on every day in the news, why do we have to be entertained by the same threads, fictionalized?

Should Oberlin students support the shows that exploit the suburban ideal, or massacre them? It isn't a question of political correctness, because sometimes shocking or offensive things are the most effective in getting the message out. People may find some parts of Suburbia offensive, but it's real life.

Many people will protest, saying their lives are boring and bland, arguing that the only exposure they get to society's problems is through the media. The apathy created by sitting back and watching problems on television or a movie screen is sad. The comfortable and secure middle class should look out the window and down the street instead of wondering if Kelly and her most recent boyfriend will conquer their cocaine addiction. Real life teaches better lessons than any righteous play or newspaper article.

Suburbia and Angry Housewives bring the question of suburban existence to Oberlin, but should they? Oberlin students are generally well informed and worldly people. We act up, act out and speak our minds, because we are in an environment where we are encouraged to do so. There's a world outside of Oberlin that is not as open to change. Are we prepared to deal with it after living in such a tolerant and unreal environment?

Artitudes is an arts opinion column appearing intermittently over the semester. Laren Rusinis an arts editor for the Review.