Fortress Dystopia: Representations of Gated Communities in Comtemporary Fiction

Abstract

Introduction Things are getting decidedly inhospitable in parts of suburbia these days. The casual passerby in cities as diverse as Los Angeles, Chicago, Manila, and Sydney may readily find neighbourhoods enclosed in series of protective security measures. In an urban world now so fearful of home invasions-a term almost unheard of two decades ago these communities are designed to keep intruders at bay and reflect something of both the inhabitants inside and the greater society beyond the walls. Iron gates, invasive security cameras, the quasi-death-threats of security firms, two-metre high walls and armed security patrols are now no longer foreign to many suburbs across the globe. The phenomena, as it has come to be known, has not passed unnoticed by either Hollywood or the literary community of the West. This hardly surprising-the suburbs surrounding Hollywood were one of the first places these fortress estates of the modern style were ever constructed. Writers, television producers, and film directors have turned their attention to this growing trend, finding much in the arising of battlements that can be manipulated and adapted to both chronicle tale and comment upon the greater world as we comprehend it. This paper investigates the portrayal of gated communities in popular culture. Firstly, the way in which cities and suburbs are depicted in contemporary fictions discussed. Second, reasonably straightforward definition of gated communities given. Third, the various stereotypes and characteristics of these communities are assessed as they are represented in the imaginations of authors and screenwriters. The discussion not jeremiad-prophesying the doom and destruction of the should it embrace further the gated form. Instead I wish to assess the perceptions and attitudes expressed in popular culture about the nature of urban life and the impacts of this new enclosure movement. The Before we begin dissecting portrayals of fortified suburbs, it wise to consider how the has been presented in late 20th century fictions. The Imagined City of contemporary fictions, especially that of science fiction, is in part consequence of the difficulty in explaining the nature of the in way that satisfies on an economic, political, social or cultural level (Johnson). This has been the case throughout the last century. From films like Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1926), through Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville (1965), and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) to Tom Grimes' novel of God (1995) and beyond, the has been represented as idea-more than simply urban form and cultural milieu. And often this vision has been dystopic. Many depictions have tended towards illustrating fragmentation of community, rise of controlling technologies, and tangible sense of loss from what once was. Blade Runner clearly depicts a post-apocalyptic future city wherein the cultures of the world appear to be packed together in smoky urban core throbbing with impending violence (Soja 319). While all tends not to be well in the City, the entity of form has also been subjected to such treatment. A litany of portraits, the Imagined Suburb, have come forth to paint the average Western landscape as conformist, soul-less, cultural desert where life behind the picket fences undoubtedly dysfunctional. The most common depictions are of the vacuousness of landscapes and life, and of the facades of the average suburbanite-novels like George Johnston's My Brother Jack (1967) and J.G. Ballard's Crash (1973), and films such as Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Doll House (1996) and Happiness (1999), and Sam Mendes's American Beauty (1999) being good examples. Others show the suburban dream turned post-suburban nightmare replete with traffic, disinvestment and violence-see Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993), Joel Schumacher's Falling Down (1993), or Alex Proyas's The Crow (1994). …