(no subject)
8 April 2019 07:55![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
haptalaonI wonder whether my impressions of a Proper House have been warped by American TV & film.
Partly because fiction is aspirational, and no one has done the math on how these glamorous 20-somethings have the disposable income to afford thst urban loft. And bevause of you're shooting, it's nicer to have a larger set to work with.
But partly because you've just got so much more space. I see all these shows where people are living in places with a big floor plan and a big yard - even when the family is clearly struggling. I would kill for that kind of *space*
There's clearly a lot of nuance I'm missing here - most importantly the context thst "free space" in America has fundamentally been stolen from First Nations; but also im probably missing stuff about, if these houses are in horrible areas or what the job situation is etc.
Land is just as politicised in England, although the issues are very different. Invading Norman king William the damn Conquerer divided up the land and gifted it to his favourite nobles, and to this day most of the land is in private ownership, inaccessible, and owned by a handful of aristocrats. Like, not even the Queen or English Heritage. Random aristos, who in turn have great power over the landscape because they are the ones deciding about tree felling and farm placement.
We have very strict laws about building and zoning, and we've had literal riots over the right to ramble on the hills; it's illegal to live in the woods, and we've an unhappy history of violence and cruelty towards Rroma, English & Irish travellers - in part, because they violate the notion of owned public space, and rhe primacy of private property. Similarly, our hunting culture is based around landed gentry hunting on their own lands, and the law being used against impoverished "poachers" taking food for themselves.
Our enduring myths of rhe land: Arthur and Robin. Arthur is the perfect king, who presides over a just, chivalrous, peaceful land. And Robin, Lord of the Greenwood, who is the freedom of the land, taking deer and living outside of the system.
America has problems. No country doesn't. And I guess given everything, Im glad for the labour laws and universal healthcare here - without which my current situation would be thst much more frightening.
But gosh darn guys, what I wouldn't give to have *land*. Or to be able to hunt. Or be off grid, or at least aspire to it. All that space you've got for fringe loonies to set up little villages; the kinds of yards where you can host a Halloween display; or even to just have wide open spaces within the home and then also outside it. The ability to build your own house on your land! Or to live right up against the wilderness. To even have wilderness.
So yeah. As I said, it's almost certainly more complicated than my outsider's view, and as I said obviously these kinda "pioneer fantasies" are built on the historic & ongoing disruption of of Native Americans.
But. But. But.
Dear god the world seems so very dark and hollow, and I long to be that fringe loonie who can fully leave this century and civilisation and be a long way from anyone. And have thst fantasy of a home I built with my own hands. Land can never be neutral.
It's a weird yearning and its been around for four or five years now, the sense that the lifestyle I want is an American one which - for geographic and historic reasons - is actually not achievable here.
I'm not sure quite what need this yearning fills, but I guess it's powerlessness and wanting to be in charge of your own destiny, at a moment where I feel profoundly disempowered. And a genuine way to opt out of society and do something different. We have a couple of off grid projects, but they're mostly retired investment bankers with a Good Life fantasy. As it has always been, life in the woods & possession of land is an *affluent* lifestyle, wholly out of reach for excluded pioneers. As I mentioned with the Travellers above, we have strict & hostile laws and a cruel culture to shut down an alternative lifestyle, one freed from the immediate demands of land-ownership and unbound from space. Living in an RV here is about as expensive as any other property orf comparable size. Anywhere beautiful and wild is fettered by tourist beds and holiday homes. One cannot sacrifice home comforts in exchange for an off grid, self sufficient, minimal income lifestyle in a mobile home. To do so here would be incredibly expensive.
And really it's -I'm not yearning to kill my own dinner and get cold, so much as to opt out of society which is fundamentally not organised around my needs & is consequently very cruel. I'm about to lose my home, and I'm desperate to get my partner somewhere safe for his health, and if only there was an open road to some huge wilderness with bears and stuff where I could live in a cabin and feel far from anyone, and safe. Cosy and safe.
Partly because fiction is aspirational, and no one has done the math on how these glamorous 20-somethings have the disposable income to afford thst urban loft. And bevause of you're shooting, it's nicer to have a larger set to work with.
But partly because you've just got so much more space. I see all these shows where people are living in places with a big floor plan and a big yard - even when the family is clearly struggling. I would kill for that kind of *space*
There's clearly a lot of nuance I'm missing here - most importantly the context thst "free space" in America has fundamentally been stolen from First Nations; but also im probably missing stuff about, if these houses are in horrible areas or what the job situation is etc.
Land is just as politicised in England, although the issues are very different. Invading Norman king William the damn Conquerer divided up the land and gifted it to his favourite nobles, and to this day most of the land is in private ownership, inaccessible, and owned by a handful of aristocrats. Like, not even the Queen or English Heritage. Random aristos, who in turn have great power over the landscape because they are the ones deciding about tree felling and farm placement.
We have very strict laws about building and zoning, and we've had literal riots over the right to ramble on the hills; it's illegal to live in the woods, and we've an unhappy history of violence and cruelty towards Rroma, English & Irish travellers - in part, because they violate the notion of owned public space, and rhe primacy of private property. Similarly, our hunting culture is based around landed gentry hunting on their own lands, and the law being used against impoverished "poachers" taking food for themselves.
Our enduring myths of rhe land: Arthur and Robin. Arthur is the perfect king, who presides over a just, chivalrous, peaceful land. And Robin, Lord of the Greenwood, who is the freedom of the land, taking deer and living outside of the system.
America has problems. No country doesn't. And I guess given everything, Im glad for the labour laws and universal healthcare here - without which my current situation would be thst much more frightening.
But gosh darn guys, what I wouldn't give to have *land*. Or to be able to hunt. Or be off grid, or at least aspire to it. All that space you've got for fringe loonies to set up little villages; the kinds of yards where you can host a Halloween display; or even to just have wide open spaces within the home and then also outside it. The ability to build your own house on your land! Or to live right up against the wilderness. To even have wilderness.
So yeah. As I said, it's almost certainly more complicated than my outsider's view, and as I said obviously these kinda "pioneer fantasies" are built on the historic & ongoing disruption of of Native Americans.
But. But. But.
Dear god the world seems so very dark and hollow, and I long to be that fringe loonie who can fully leave this century and civilisation and be a long way from anyone. And have thst fantasy of a home I built with my own hands. Land can never be neutral.
It's a weird yearning and its been around for four or five years now, the sense that the lifestyle I want is an American one which - for geographic and historic reasons - is actually not achievable here.
I'm not sure quite what need this yearning fills, but I guess it's powerlessness and wanting to be in charge of your own destiny, at a moment where I feel profoundly disempowered. And a genuine way to opt out of society and do something different. We have a couple of off grid projects, but they're mostly retired investment bankers with a Good Life fantasy. As it has always been, life in the woods & possession of land is an *affluent* lifestyle, wholly out of reach for excluded pioneers. As I mentioned with the Travellers above, we have strict & hostile laws and a cruel culture to shut down an alternative lifestyle, one freed from the immediate demands of land-ownership and unbound from space. Living in an RV here is about as expensive as any other property orf comparable size. Anywhere beautiful and wild is fettered by tourist beds and holiday homes. One cannot sacrifice home comforts in exchange for an off grid, self sufficient, minimal income lifestyle in a mobile home. To do so here would be incredibly expensive.
And really it's -I'm not yearning to kill my own dinner and get cold, so much as to opt out of society which is fundamentally not organised around my needs & is consequently very cruel. I'm about to lose my home, and I'm desperate to get my partner somewhere safe for his health, and if only there was an open road to some huge wilderness with bears and stuff where I could live in a cabin and feel far from anyone, and safe. Cosy and safe.
