Suburbicon –
Do you know who William Levitt was? Most people don’t.
He was responsible for creating Levittown, one of the first big scale housing developments in Long Island. His father, Abe, a self-made entrepreneur had provided the seed money, while his brother Alfred, an amateur architect provided the designs for the homes while William, a Barnum-esque promoter and marketing whiz built the business and sold the dream.
William Levitt was an icon and a titan on the scale of Henry Ford and Walt Disney. Time magazine put him on the cover and ordained Levittown ‘as much an achievement of its cultural moment as Venice or Jerusalem.’
After building the homes in Long Island, Levitt moved on to other areas in the north, including Pennsylvania. His vision was to create several housing projects across the country for residents that were trying to flee the expensive, polluted, and crowded cities.
But there was a problem, a deep rooted problem within the Levittown community.
This is the story behind Suburbicon and we are Cinescape Magazine
William Levitt was a bigot. He didn’t let blacks buy and move into his homes that he built. He was taken to court and ordered to integrate, but instead of doing that, he sold his properties.
One of the families that had purchased and moved into Levittown, Pennsylvania, was the Meyers family. They bought their house in 1957, located at 43 Deepgreen Lane and it set off a racial conflict that lasted months. A seemingly safe neighborhood is upended when whites started rioting against the Meyers. All of this happened 60 years ago.
The difference is that Suburbicon doesn’t tell the story of Linda Myers family. A family that was beseiged by white people, day and night, yelled at, treated like they were less than human. The people of Levittown blared music and were banging on things all night long. Rocks thrown at the house, one through their window and an 8 foot cross was placed on their lawn and set on fire.
The police were called, but that didn’t help, but the Myers never gave in. They stayed in that house for four years, despite the continued abuse. Until they left Levittown for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Suburbicon touches on this subject briefly. It’s two stories that parallel each other. One where all of the problems are external, the other where all of the problems are internal. A tale of a black family and a white family living in some rustic 50’s suburbia where life is supposed to be simple. Manicured lawns, baseball, and apple pie.
Suburbicon (2017)
R | 1h 44min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | 27 October 2017 (USA)
A home invasion rattles a quiet family town.
Director: George Clooney
Writers: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Stars: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac
