3°3 – opening credits

The video consists in the opening credits of a series called Weeds. Weed is a plant that you don’t want in your garden. It’s also slang (familiar language) for cannabis. It shows the everyday life of upper-middle-class people in an American called Agrestic. It’s probably in the South of the US because it looks hot and the people are wearing summer clothes. Everything is the same (cars, , streets) and everybody looks alike: they wear the same clothes, eat the same food, etc.

This video shows the conformism of the American society as did Warhol in “Campbell soup cans”

Would you like to live in such a neighbourhood?

I wouldn’t like to live there because the neighbourhood looks too perfect, so it would be boring. I would want to live there because the architecture is nice. I would hate to live there because people look like robots: they don’t think by themselves and they all do the same things. I’d rather live in Agrestic because there is less pollution than in the city. I wouldn’t love to live there because everybody looks the same: they do the same activities, wear the same clothes, etc. I’d prefer living in Agrestic it’s cleaner than in the city. I could move to Agrestic because it looks like a nice place to live. I wouldn’t enjoy living there because it’s too perfect. I couldn’t live in the city because it’s more boring than in the city. It would be nice / agreeable / great because there is no violence and it feels secure.

Tuesday, March 19th

Little boxes – , 1962

Little Boxes is the name of a song sung by Malvina Reynolds, written in 1962. It sounds like a nursery rhyme (a song for children) whereas /but it actually is a protest song which denounces the conformism of the American society.

The people described, all have a good job (doctors, lawyers, business executives), they have all been to university, and they all live the same comfortable life. They all raise a family, and children grow up and live the same life as their parents, they repeat the same pattern. They live in with houses that look the same: they are compared to little boxes, made of bad quality materials (ticky-tacky) painted in garish (very bright) colors. The houses are built in mass (at the same time, under the pattern).

3°4 Monday, February 11th Weeds – opening credits

The video is the opening of a TV series called “Weeds” where a mother who has lost her husband sells drugs to get money to feed her children. The family lives in a suburb called Agrestic. At the beginning, there is a map of the town and we can see that the houses are all the same / identical. We can see people with the same habits: - The men all go jogging before going to work at the same time. - On the way to work they get coffee in the same place. - The women probably stay at home, they don’t work, and they go jogging every day.

The men have the same jobs, they leave the at the same time, they all wear the same clothes, and they all take the same cars to go the same direction.

Thursday, February 14th

Would you like to live there? Pros: I would like to live in this suburb because there are nice houses. I would love to live there because it looks quiet, safe and secure and it is beautiful. I could live there because people are equal and there is probably no jealousy. I would want to live there because everybody and everything looks perfect. It would be great to live there because it’s clean.

Cons: I wouldn’t like to live there because everybody is the same and does the same. I would hate to live there because it looks monotonous and boring. I couldn’t live there because people don’t have personality. I wouldn’t want to live there because people look like birds like in a gilded cage: they are not free to be what they want or express themselves. I wouldn’t want to live there because there is no originality.

Thursday, March 14th

Little Boxes, Malvina Reynolds 1962

The song of the video was sung and written by a singer named Malvina Reynolds in 1962. It sounds like a nursery rhyme (a song for children), but the lyrics are those of a protest song. It is a critique of society. The houses are compared to boxes: they all look the same and are made of ticky-tacky (bad quality). The people are compared to the houses where they live: they are all the same, they don’t have their own personality, and they are not interesting. They are ticky-tacky as well. The children are compared to their parents: they go to the same school, to the same university and have the same jobs. The reproduce the same pattern (model), they have the same life.

3°5 Monday, February 18th Weeds – opening credits

The video consists in the opening credits of a TV series called weeds. It shows the everyday life of ordinary people in an American suburb.

In the video the people are wearing the same clothes. Men and women are running. The men are drinking coffee. They all have the same cars and houses. The kids are going to school. The men are driving to work at the same time in the same cars.

It denounces the conformism of the American society; it shows us a stereotyped American society where people don’t have personality: They all wear the same clothes, have the same cars and houses, have the same habits.

Friday, March 15th Would you like to live there?

I would like to live there because people own nice individual houses. It would be great to live there because it’s really clean and quiet, and there is no pollution / it’s not polluted. I would love to live there because it looks perfect and wonderful. It would be nice to live there because people are equal: there is no difference between them. / There is no difference between people so I would probably like to live there. I would like to live there because people probably get on well. It looks like there are no conflicts.

I couldn’t live there because it seems boring. The everyday life is repetitive: people do the same things every day. I wouldn’t like to live there because it’s like a prison: people can’t do what they want because they are afraid to be judged by their neighbours. (social pressure) I wouldn’t enjoy living there because people lack personality. People look like robots, everybody does the same things at the same time: They look like they have been brainwashed.

Monday, March 18th

Little Boxes, Malvina Reynolds , 1962

This song is called “Little Boxes “ and was sung and written by Malvina Reynolds in 1962. It’s very repetitive and sounds like a nursery rhyme (a song for children) but in reality it’s a protest song that denounces the conformism of the American society. People have the same life: they have all been to university, so they got a good job to raise a family. They live in very ordinary houses (they look like boxes) all built under the same pattern and painted in garish (very bright) colors.

Malvina Reynolds wrote this song as a nursery rhyme (a repetitive structure) to emphasize the idea of conformism: Everybody has the same life, and the children grow up and live the same life as their parents, they live under the same pattern.