The central plot of Revolutionary Road involves the Wheelers’ plan to flee to Paris to escape the "hopeless emptiness" of their lives. In 2008, the handheld device was the ultimate tool of escapism. If the Wheelers lived today, they might not look to Europe for salvation; they might simply look down at their screens. Watching Frank Wheeler trudge through a sea of identical gray flannel suits at Grand Central Station while you, the viewer, sit on a modern commuter train with white earbuds in, creates a haunting mirror effect. Both the character and the viewer are using technology or fantasy to distance themselves from their immediate surroundings.
Revolutionary Road is a story about the "Golden Age" that never was. Consuming it through the lens of the "Digital Dawn" of the late 2000s adds a layer of meta-commentary. Whether it’s the picket fence or the plastic casing of a Zune, the human struggle remains the same: trying to find something authentic in a world designed for mass-produced comfort. Revolutionary Road (PSP, iPod, Zune)
The 2008 film adaptation of Revolutionary Road arrived at a peculiar moment in technological history. While the film’s protagonists, Frank and April Wheeler, are trapped in the rigid, analog world of 1955 Connecticut, the audience of the late aughts was beginning to consume their tragedy on the go. To watch Revolutionary Road on a PSP, an iPod Classic, or a Microsoft Zune is to experience a clash between two different kinds of "suburban" isolation: the physical picket fences of the 1950s and the digital silos of the 2000s. The central plot of Revolutionary Road involves the