Even Our Dreams Are Fake: Suburban illusions and their gothic interventions
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Abstract
Even Our Dreams Are Fake (2012-2014) is a series of photographs that were motivated by what I perceived at the time as a progressively deteriorating Australian dream. While the US's cultural and consumer influence upon the Australian dream is apparent in a contemporary context, this practice-led research is concerned with examining the nostalgic ideals of a mid-twentieth century American dream and how this fantasy is able to persistently rework itself through the incongruities of an accelerating neoliberal present. This research explores the aspirational suburban lifestyle as a core conduit to the broader neoliberal American dream. In this article, I propose that by employing a specific mode of 1980s and 1990s Suburban Gothic and its distinct tone, Even Our Dreams Are Fake can aid a more meaningful insight into the paradoxes of the neoliberal American dream and our sustained individual and collective entanglement within it. To do so, I outline how mass entertainment media and imagery alongside nostalgia are able to persuade and influence. It is suggested that when used together with neoliberal narratives, they can leave audiences in denial about their power and intent. Following this, I discuss two important Suburban Gothic filmic texts and how their characteristics, devices, and tropes form the foundations for the suburban world constructed in Even Our Dreams Are Fake.
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Social Alternatives
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41
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2
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© 2022 Social Alternatives. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal website for access to the definitive, published version.
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Visual cultures
Visual arts
Photography, video and lens-based practice
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Carkeek, A, Even Our Dreams Are Fake: Suburban illusions and their gothic interventions, Social Alternatives, 2022, 41 (2), pp. 6-19