A Q and A with Tom

[Keith Whitener]

Check this out: http://www.buzzine.com/2009/06/tom-scharpling-interview/

[Geoff Johnston]

Nice work, Ben!

[yesno]

I agree 100% with Tom's theory of the suburbs.

[pete]

This is a great quote :

But there’s this thing in the suburbs that’s really funny in its own way, but we also do it without taking the approach of someone blowing the lid off the suburbs like, “It’s dark, it’s weird in the suburbs, and people don’t know it.” Everybody knows it.

 

The "check this shit out, I'm totally showing the DARK SIDE OF SUBURBIA, prepare to get your minds blown out" as a filmmaker's trope is one of the most boring, overdone things ever.  I mean, there are plenty of fine stories to be told in suburbia, including dark ones, sure, but that can't be like... your "thing".

[JonFromMaplewood]

This is a great quote :

But there’s this thing in the suburbs that’s really funny in its own way, but we also do it without taking the approach of someone blowing the lid off the suburbs like, “It’s dark, it’s weird in the suburbs, and people don’t know it.” Everybody knows it.

 

The "check this shit out, I'm totally showing the DARK SIDE OF SUBURBIA, prepare to get your minds blown out" as a filmmaker's trope is one of the most boring, overdone things ever.  I mean, there are plenty of fine stories to be told in suburbia, including dark ones, sure, but that can't be like... your "thing".

I called the show a few years back about this. I complained that I was the only person I knew who did not like "American Beauty" for these exact reasons. I found no revelation in it whatsoever.  Thankfully, Tom agreed, and then he went off on Todd Solondz (sp?).  Blue Velvet may be the only "suburbia is weird" film I like because it is so weird itself, one cannot take it as "looking down" at the suburbs in any way.  More like David Lynch saying "Hey there suburbs! You're as weird as me! Let's smoke a cigarette together!"

[yesno]

I've got no time for the "The suburbs are dark and weird" lidblower junk, but I do think that kids from the suburbs, at least boring ones like the one I grew up in (Brick, NJ) have to learn how to make their own fun.  But, I bet kids growing up in Tokyo also find everything boring.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Nice piece, Ben (and Tom)!

An OT sidebar about that blowing-the-lid-off-the-suburbs thing: I wrote a domestic family comedy because I hate that sort of play and I wanted to try and find a way to make it interesting, and a regional theater marketed it as a blowing-the-lid-off-the-American-family sort of thing, which wasn't my intention at all.  I was just trying to keep myself interested.  Then both the Washington Post and the A/V Club gave me shit about it.  That sucked.

OK, everyone get back to complimenting Ben now.

[hugman]

Nice piece, Ben (and Tom)!

An OT sidebar about that blowing-the-lid-off-the-suburbs thing: I wrote a domestic family comedy because I hate that sort of play and I wanted to try and find a way to make it interesting, and a regional theater marketed it as a blowing-the-lid-off-the-American-family sort of thing, which wasn't my intention at all.  I was just trying to keep myself interested.  Then both the Washington Post and the A/V Club gave me shit about it.  That sucked.

OK, everyone get back to complimenting Ben now.

it's a complex issue. i don't think the suburbs are dark and scary. they are a cultural vacuum in which it's painful to grow up if you are artistically or philosophically inclined. also the location of the suburb matters.  a suburb of, say, philadelphia, where you have easy and quick access to new york city is a universe away from a suburb of st. louis or cleveland.

[hugman]

and also, great interview, ben.  nice to read an interview with Tom that doesn't just rehash the same information we've read or heard before.

[James W]

The show never stops! That was great, B & T.

[SJK]

Top notch.

[todd]

suburb of st. louis

I can confirm that these suck!

[Julie]

And the suburbs of Cincinnati suck. And the suburbs of Detroit suck.

[buffcoat]

What doesn't suck?


Cities and suburbs and rural areas suck for different reasons, but the root cause is the same.  They are designed by and filled with human beings.

I hear the South Pacific is nice.  Or was nice, until people realized it and started living there.

[Keith Whitener]

Nice work, Ben!

Nice piece, Ben (and Tom)!

and also, great interview, ben. 

I just ask questions. All the credit really belongs to Tom!