The origins of lawns piss me off to no end. Originally it was a flex to have a lawn “Hey look at me! I have so much money and resources that I don’t even need to farm on my own land! Hell yea!” And over time, these rich assholes realized “wait a sec, none of the poor people know how rich I am! Just my servants and people who happen to be walking past!” So they hired artists to show their wonderful estates and lack of gardens. Over time people started to identify those green fields of grass with class status. People slowly became less reliant on farms because of the rise of trade and agricultural production. They still had houses and land tho, so they copied the lawns from the paintings and it became more and more common. Obviously there are a few details here and there that I probably missed but that’s the gist of why people are so obsessed with lawns
The hook could be better, here's an idea:
In Capitalist Usia, conformism is valued above all else. Although they espouse the virtues of private property, agents of "HOA" scour neighbourhoods and kick people out of their homes if their lawn doesn't meet the specific criteria of the area.
Do other Western countries have this insidious "lawn" culture too? Or is it an American thing?
It starts from the feudal castle mentality. Having a clear field around your castle so no attacking forces can sneak up to the walls was a strategy to retain power. Archers along the top of the walls could defend the castle because there was no cover or concealment available for a vast radius from the walls.
This later becomes the 'estate' of the royals. Eventually they would have manicured 'gardens' as well, but having a vast clear area around the manor or whatever was traditional at that point. Then suburban development uses this 'castle' mindset to create the single family home surrounded by a green lawn with very little landscaping or trees etc. A commodity form that gestures to the castle archetype for the 'middle class'. This is also why the 'white picket fence' was a crucial part of the original suburban ideal. It's a mini stockade.
Also most peasants and poorer people in general relied heavily on subsistence farming till far into the 20th century, and a clear field/“lawn” indicated you were rich enough to the point where you could buy your food and not worry about feeding yourself.
Yes, this alongside the enclosure that came along of common lands. It's the aesthetics of 'old wealth' repackaged for the common folk. This is partly why I recommend Ways of Seeing to new lefties all the time. So much of the cultural aesthetics of western capitalism has been directly lifted from aristocratic cultures of Europe and just slightly repackaged. There's even 'old Hollywood' aesthetics that are like a xerox of a xerox, etc.
So much of the cultural aesthetics of western capitalism has been directly lifted from aristocratic cultures of Europe and just slightly repackaged.
The prevalence of children's stories involving kings, queens and princesses is something that has bothered me more than it should.
In The Netherlands and Belgium we have problems with people laying their entire garden full of concrete or tiles, or sometimes lawns. The tiles are responsible for hotter areas in neighborhoods who have to much of them and they also fuck with the ground water level.
This tradition is technically a European one and has been for probably over a 1000 years at this point. I would assume that it’s present somewhere in Europe.
"Our neighbors are watching over one another's family members... property"
HOAs are fascist, no one can change my mind. Also I’m super anti-lawn, a better alternative would be native wild grasses and/or flowers as they are better for the environment and kinder on the wallet as you spend less time watering. I’ve also heard that native plants aid with flooding as their roots go way deeper.
HOAs were invented to exclude minorities, siphon money out of the city (especially schools), and to increase landholders wealth
