Caravan Rubbish?

On Saturday we attended a birthday party for L. The theme was “Trailer Trash Bash” and appropriate costumes and finger foods were encouraged.

Why is it okay for a bunch of white mostly left-leaning well-meaning middle class folks to make fun of the white rural poor? (“Okay” in the sense that despite perhaps some twinges of discomfort, we did it anyway, and had fun doing it.) J, M and I got fully into the spirit of the thing, hitting the opp shops (opportunity shops AKA thrift stores) in the morning and cruising the aisles of the supermarket for suitably fresh-food-free foodstuffs in the afternoon.

As I thought about costume and food, I was assuming that Australia’s “trailer trash” culture would be similar to America’s. Upon arriving at the party, I found the participants all putting on Southern American accents.

R was surprised that I didn’t realize that “trailer trash” specifically meant “American trailer trash.” When I said, “Surely, you have trailer parks, too!” he said, “But we call them ‘caravans’ and we call ‘trash’ ‘rubbish’!”

We talked about other potential party themes: Middle-Class College Grads, Posh Snobs, Poor Aborigines, New Age Californians, Dim & Self-indulgent Rock Stars, Taciturn New Englanders, Obsequious and Inscrutable Asians, Religious Fundamentalists. Now, how did that list make you feel? Were you offended by all of the categories? What makes you wince the least? Which party can you actually imagine attending?

I was going to post party pictures but Hello/Picassa is having problems again, so I'll try posting pix later. Sorry!