Avalon Lost: Suburbanization and Its Discontents in Barry Levinson's Avalon

Abstract

Barry Levinson's film Avalon (1990) dramatizes changes that occur over time among Krichinskys, a Jewish-American family of East European heritage in mid-twentieth-century Baltimore. Levinson said of his film that 'Avalon'. . . dealt with 50's- rise of television and demise of family storyteller, viewed through prism of a large Jewish family coming apart at seams (qtd. in Yagoda 30). Levinson's depiction in Avalon of corrosive impact of suburbanization on family life in America represents a deepening and enriching of his exploration of a community changing over time- a theme he had previously set forth in his earlier Baltimore films Diner (1982) and Tin Men (1987). Whereas Diner and Tin Men had told straightforward, linear stories that unfold over a period of a few days in lives of main characters, Avalon draws additional dramatic power by moving back and forth in time as it explores differing impact of suburbanization on different generations of Krichinsky family. Levinson's portrayal of that process of generational change shows how an artist who returns repeatedly to social and cultural setting that inspired his or her creative impulses can find his or her vision of that setting, and of human character and behavior generally, growing more perceptive and more profound over time. An Avalon of Mind Levinson once said that in Avalon he had wanted to chronicle the move to suburbia and changing economics of it and impact on extended family . . . how that extended family broke (Films of Barry Levinson). In pursuit of that vision, Levinson structures this narrative around family celebrations on Thanksgiving and Fourth of July, two quintessentially American holidays that complement one another well; Independence Day stands for individual freedom and opportunity, while Thanksgiving marks communal nature of immigrant life in with its emphasis on extended family gathering together for an elaborate and festive holiday meal (Cavalcanti and Schleef 12). The film's title refers to a neighborhood that did not exist except in Levinson's imagination, though there was an Avalon movie theatre in Baltimore of Levinson's youth (Goldman 110). Levinson told a New York Times interviewer that he was being deliberately ambiguous about not specifically grounding Avalon in any identifiable place, stating that What Avalon is supposed to be is time when things were good (qtd. in Rothstein 23). Levinson also said that he found term Avalon interesting in terms of King Arthur, that there was this mythical place, an earthly paradise . . . . perhaps something English, but something that's lost (qtd. in Thompson 106, 108). The First Generation: Urban-Based Family Cohesiveness Avalon begins in 1948, with a Thanksgiving Day celebration being shared by four Krichinsky brothers- Gabriel, Nathan, Hymie, and Sam- and their families. As film opens, Krichinsky (played by Armin Mueller-Stahl) recalls entering Baltimore on Fourth of July, 1914, and marveling as fireworks lit up night sky of his new home. thus describes his entry into Baltimore: I came to America in 1914 ... .1 got off boat, and then I came to Baltimore. It was most beautiful place you've ever seen in your life. There were lights everywhere- what lights they had! It was a celebration of lights. I thought they were for me: Sam was in America! I didn't know what holiday it was, but there were lights, and I walked under them. A gentle sense of nostalgia is established by film's early passages; while Gabriel, eldest brother, seems a bit bossy in his insistence that only he is correct about elements of family tradition- e.g., year in which Krichinsky family paterfamilias came to America, or whether father ever drank water- brothers' enjoyment of each other's company and of family fellowship of Thanksgiving holiday is evident. …