Revolutionary Road

I saw Revolutionary Road. There is much to discuss, more than I can say here. Nonetheless, here is my analysis.

Frank and April want more from their lives. They think that they are special and that they are superior to their friends. However, as Fred suggested, it is not clear what specifically they want for themselves. What is this better future they dream of? What are they striving for? Frank and April offer no answers.

Now, April wanted to be an actress when she was younger, so that must be part of her longing. Frank, though, has no idea what he wants and never did. They both want something different and better, but neither says what that is.

For any marriage to be successful, two people must be ready for marriage. April and Frank were not ready. They married too young and had not lived and experienced enough to settle their own issues and reach the maturity needed for marriage. I even question how much they really love each other. When April tells Frank she does not love him, it might be true.

An important issue in this story is the impact of suburbia. Some would say that living in suburbia is a cause of their troubles. Such a life can be monotonous: every day going to work (in Frank's case, the "dullest job imaginable"), spending time with your kids, always seeing the same people... It is easy to imagine how stifling such a lack of vitality can be. We see it when Frank goes to work, surrounded by the endless stream of men all wearing gray suits. We see it too when April stands at the edge of her lawn and looks down the street at all the same garbage cans dotting the houses next to all the same mailboxes.

While I think that suburbia can frustrate and subdue anyone, I think that suburbia is not a major reason for their troubles. I do not think going to Paris would have helped their marriage. It perhaps would have provided a respite, but their problems would have persisted. Indeed, environment matters, but the sum of their unhappiness is not suburbia's fault alone.

However, it would be interesting to research divorce rates. I wonder if they increased significantly during the 50s as suburbia spread?

Related to the issue of suburbia is the stereotype of the 50s as being about conformity. Certainly, there were societal pressures to adopt a particular way of life. As April observes, when they had their first child, they felt they needed to buy a house and start raising a family. Their second child was to prove the first was not a mistake. Or, when Frank tells his friends that April will support him in Paris, they cannot believe a man would allow such a thing. No doubt, they were expected to conform.

Conformity may be at the heart of their problems. I think they want to rise above being like everyone else. They want to determine for themselves the direction their lives take. I think part of the problem is they are so entangled in society's machinery. They have a family, a job, a house... if they wanted to defy conformity, they should have done it earlier in their lives.

I liken it to Marcus Messner in Roth's Indignation. He too wants to resist conformity and does so. But he is young enough to achieve that triumph, a mere university student with no roots in society like the Wheelers. It is difficult to break free of conformity's claws when you are so entrenched in them.

When April pretends during breakfast that everything is fine, I think she is trying to ignore their problems, as if not acknowledging will make them disappear. This seems to be the way all the characters operate, except John Givings. They see only what they want to see. Complexity is hushed. We see this when Helen Givings says the Wheelers are perfect for their house, then, when the new owners move in, says the same about them and that she actually never really liked the Wheelers. She and the rest are blind to the difficulties around them. The problem for the Wheelers is that they never did ignore their problems, and when they try to over breakfast it is too late: the wounds are too deep to simply forget.

Someone asked me who I sympathize with, Frank or April. Both are unlikable, but I choose April. I dislike Frank more because he is too angry. He pushes April when she needs to be alone. He is more disrespectful.

John Givings is my favorite character. He understands the Wheelers. He sees the "hopelessness and emptiness" of their lives. I think he and the Campbells live vicariously through Frank and April. They too wish they could escape to Paris; they are disappointed when the Wheelers do not go.

I am happy that this is a movie that does not romanticize love. Too many movies portray love as a gooey rainbow; this movie shows that love and marriage are not fairy tales, but painstakingly arduous. There should be more like it.