The moral of this story?

There is no "moral," per se. It's not an after school special. From the perspective of the gas station guy they're just pissing their lives away and they ought to work harder. But Bogosian is very aware of the irony that "success" ain't all it's cracked up to be. The play (sorry I haven't seen the movie but I have read the play) is about what happens after you achieve the American dream - or in the case of these kids after their parents achieve the American dream. What's on the other side? The gas station guy just can't understand why these kids, with every opportunity and privelege, aren't happy. They have everything he's striving for but to them it's empty.

It's not about going to Hollywood and being cool, or even "succeeding" on some other level. It's about the emptiness of materialism - the emptiness of the "American dream," if you will. One of Bogosian's major themes, especially in "Wake up and Smell the Coffee," but also in SubUrbia, is whether trying to maintain artistic purity is worth it when the creature comforts of selling out are so nice. Just look at the rock star. He's "successful" and all, but he's totally sold out his former friends.

Make more sense now?

When I watch a movie, and I don't "get it" I just tell myself- it's a story. Why does a movie have to have a message? Some movies are made to teach you something, some are made to make you think, some are made to simply entertain you or to just tell a story. And all movies tell a story but some JUST tell you a story. I really like Suburbia and I got my own thing from it and some people get other things from it and some people get nothing from it. And it's not a big deal because it's just telling a story, there doesn't have to be a moral. -or at least I don't think so.

"next time people watch it, think about how your questions could have been answered in the duration of the film ,because i learnt nothing and didnt enjoy it all that much either"

I just saw it last night and don't think it needs any questions answering. This film was simply a snapshot of a group of peoples lives, the main theme was simply 'what happens to young adults growing up'.

Some move on and some get left behind, I bet most of us know a 'Pony' and many of us are like a 'Jeff' - left behind in life, not knowing where to go or how to move forward. Jeff fully knew the bs of life, was the smartest guy in that group but it was he who was 'left behind' because he thought too much and didn't play life at its own silly game - maybe he was the real winner though.

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Okay, this is what I got from it. The suburban lifestyle has *beep* us all up. Our parents reached the "American Dream", and they expect us to have that same dream. They try to make it as easy for us as possible to reach that dream for ourselves. We can't though, because the "American Dream" has changed without their even realizing it. The "American Dream" is not the perfect house and the perfect family, it is the struggle for that perfect house and family. If it's handed to us, we don't want it. That's why the cashier still holds the dream that our parents expect us to. He has to work for it. The kids are having it handed to them on a silver platter, and subconsiously or not, they can't accept it.

I grew up lower middle class, nice one story house, decent neighborhood, enough extra money to be relatively happy. After high school, I lived in the dorms and worked as a telemarketer until the university expelled me on account of my laziness, then I mostly couch hopped or slept in public buildings during the day, wandering the streets at night. That last about a year. Now, I'm a cashier and share an apartment with an old high school friend.

Sorry about the life story, but I was much happier unemployed and homeless than I was as a college student. The "American Dream" has gone from the perfect life to a life of unobstructed freedom. We all have to hit rock bottom, so that we can work our way up on our own terms. I couldn't have held a full-time job, actually passed college classes, and had my own apartment with my parents help. I had to experience a thing like homelessness before I could help myself to reach any dream. I think for all those nights of wandering down the street, watching the stars, with a ciggarette in one hand and my other attempting to rub my icy flesh back to life, I've become a better person. You never know the worth of a featherbed matress and digital alarm clock, until you've slept on a park bench and been awoken by the automatic sprinklers.

*I love that the movies I like get horrible reviews. It makes them come out on DVD earlier.*

**I have now realised what bothered me about this film, if it shows some average young people in a realistic situation, it doesnt tell us why this particular group were picked, it needed to make their situation stand out from being just like everyone elses,otherwise it lacks reason for it to have been made................**

making this group a bunch of average young people in a realistic setting WAS the point! it's showing us how life in the 'burbs is devoid of meaning and connection. it makes us alienated. remember the standoff between Tim and Nazeer... Jeff was trying to defuse the situation by asking Nazeer's name and where he was from, and said something about the reason we don't like each other is because we never take the time to get to know each other.. i am doing a semester long research project for sociology on sprawl, and it's funny because one book even mentioned this movie as an example of how teens resort to crime and mischief because they're bored and unmotivated .. they quote an interview with Bogosian:

"There's nothing wrong with these kids. The landscape around and within their minds isn't providing them with the tools to get around in the world beyond the suburbs. Meanwhile, TV is bombarding them with so much stuff that all they can feel is frustration. No wonder they think there's no point in doing anything... The people who designed the suburbs were married couples with children, who wanted a sedate place to grill burgers in the backyard. Young people didn't have a say in it, and they get into a lot of trouble there because they're bored. Driving around, driving drunk, drowing in frozen ponds. The suburbs can be a dangerous place at a certain age."

There are certainly other themes that come into play, and the second biggest to me was the pure artistic ideal versus selling out. That summed up a lot of the tension between Jeff and Sooze, and Jeff and Pony (besides the fact Pony was trying to bone his girlfriend). Although I fully agree with Jeff on most of his opinions, it's a curious irony that those who stick to their creative integrity seem to be the most miserable.

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I thought it had to do with the fact that since they were given everything they need... they were in a slum of things... never being able to go after anything more.