Years ago, back in Germany, I used to stop everything to watch this video whenever it came on. What really appealed to me, although I like the song, was the video itself. What an interesting little house that was, and by the way, what was it? I only found out years later... But first, the video:
Now, there's nothing glamorous about the house. It's just a shack, probably like many in the South and the video has that 'Colour Purple' feel to it, which means we're definitely not looking at the lifestyles of the rich and pointless. But seeing as it was just a video, I kinda dismissed the shack as being nothing more than a set.
Years later, while looking for typical New Orleans houses, I came across a floor plan that reminded me of the video. In fact, it could almost have been the floor plan of that shack: four rooms connecting directly to each other, no hallways. This is nothing new. I knew that for many centuries houses did not have hallways, people would just go from room to room, going about their business. Early American houses, and we're talking 17th century here, were no exception to the rule. In fact, rooms tended to have multiple functions,
depending on the time of day.
Parlour by day Bedroom by night
If you wanted privacy, well, just pull the curtains! Why do you think beds had posts?
Four poster bed Box beds
So, the privacy issue was no real surprise, although I was a little surprised at how much more recent our notions of privacy are than I actually thought. It's just that after researching these old houses up north, it was interesting to see how different they were down south! Mostly because of climate. Up north, small, closed off rooms tended to preserve heat in the cold winter months. Down south, interconnected rooms allowed better ventilation in the hot summer months. So, this particular style of house developed in the South: two rows of several interconnected rooms and porches outside, which were almost like an extra room. It's called Creole style and the shack in Badu's video seems to be in that style.
