SHORTS... AND TO THE POINT

The title says it all: KIDS + MONEY. How frightening that combination is depends on whether or not you are a parent (or about to become one). Or more precisely, whether or not you are a parent with a lot of money. Director Lauren Greenfield's documentary features a series of interviews with kids at various levels of the economic strata, with each one doing their level best to weave their way through the materialistic minefield that is Los Angeles. It may convince you to put the place up for sale and move to a safe fly-over state before starting a family. Or if you're entrenched in La La Land with kids already, maybe it will convince you to skip the golf game or take a day off from that cash cow job and check in with your own kids.

KIDS + MONEY follows your book "Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood." Why are you personally drawn to the issue of consumerism with kids? I started working on my first book "Fast Forward" when I moved back to my hometown of Los Angeles in 1992. I had studied visual anthropology at Harvard and interned at National Geographic and my focus in my documentary work had thus far been the "other," the exotic. I realized when I was living abroad that the culture that I grew up in - Los Angeles - was worthy of study and documentation as well. When I was photographing Maya Indians in Chiapas, Mexico for my first assignment for National Geographic, I started re-reading Bret Easton Ellis' book "Less than Zero." It reminded me of an exaggerated version of my own high school experience growing up on the west side of Los Angeles.

So when I started photographing kids growing up in Los Angeles, my primary focus was the influence of materialism and Hollywood values (cult of celebrity, importance of image) and how the culture causes kids to grow up quickly. I guess the origins of the work were my personal memories - both exciting and ambivalent - from my teenage years. (To see excerpts of "Fast Forward," go to laurengreenfield.com.)

Do you think this film will help lower the birth rate in Los Angeles? I have made a short, independent, very low budget film so I am unfortunately confident that it will have little effect on the overall culture in Los Angeles, let alone the census. That said, kids are amazing (I have two of my own) and I hope that the film will not discourage people to raise children in Los Angeles (as some have told me was the effect of my first book).

I think we need to be aware of the toxic effect that the culture of consumerism has on children. We live in a time of very aggressive direct marketing and advertising to children and teens. Our President told us that an appropriate and patriotic response to 9/11 was to go shopping to support the economy. Our media is very influential on young people but parents and schools can have an important countervailing influence to the values of the popular culture. I showed a preview of KIDS + MONEY online and as a result received many educational requests for a copy of it from high school and university educators. I am always pleased when my work is used to promote discussion, especially in an educational context.

Have the parents of any of the kids seen the film? And, if so - did it inspire any "mommy and me" time? We are still finishing post (but I promise it will be done by the festival) so no one has seen the finished film yet.

What will happen in the feature-length sequel to KIDS + MONEY? Should I make one???? In all seriousness, all my books and films are related and part of an ongoing inquiry about contemporary culture. I have no doubt I will continue to explore the themes of KIDS + MONEY, but have no plans for a sequel at this point.