Villages

Flightless Bird

David Farrier

Comedy, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on Flightless Bird, David sets off for The Villages, America’s biggest retirement community - home to over 100 thousand people over the age of 55. What lies in this mysterious land spread out over about 32 square miles, an area bigger than Manhattan? David discovers The Villages are so big, they get their own designation on the census. Taking a tour with a resident, Farrier discovers golf courses, pickleball courts, grocery stores, banks, and a roading system just for golf carts. And while the local paper is full of positive stories, is there a dark underbelly that runs underneath? And is there any truth to the ongoing rumor that The Villages is the STI capital of the United States? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm David Farrier and New Zealand are accidentally marooned in America and I want to figure out what makes this country tick.
0:07.0	One thing I've noticed since being here in America is that Americans love to tap out of reality a little bit.
0:13.0	Whether that means tapping into someone else's reality
0:15.5	by watching beautiful people on TV.
0:18.0	Listen, everyone has their own truth of how they think something happened.
0:22.0	Or running off for a day at Disneyland with its perfectly curated surroundings that make you forget
0:27.2	about the harsh realities of real life.
0:30.1	Now as I learned in the Epcot episode, Walt Disney had originally planned for that amusement park to be a real community.
0:37.0	More Truman Show than theme park.
0:40.0	Good morning!
0:41.0	Good morning!
0:42.0	Oh, and in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night.
0:48.0	But there's one place in America that really did decide to go full Truman Show,
0:53.2	not with the cameras, but with the idea of this perfectly curated world
0:57.6	where nothing can go wrong,
0:59.2	where the flowers are always fresh,
1:01.2	and citizens live in perfect harmony.
1:03.6	A little slice of paradise.
1:07.0	Sunshine and golf galore.
1:09.6	Where neighbors stroll the old town square and the good life is in store.
1:19.0	That was an old ad for the Villagers, America's largest retirement community.
1:24.1	And it really is large, Found about an hour's drive northwest of Orlando, the villages is home to over 100,000 people over the age of 55 and is spread out over about 32 square miles, an area bigger than Manhattan.
	...

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