Iowa City woman’s documentary film about American Gothic house

From The Capital Times (Wisconsin):

"American Gothic," stolid, creaky, stuck in a time warp. Pretty near homely. How did it become such a central image in our culture and consciousness?"No one really knows," says Sasha Waters Freyer, who has made a documentary film "This American Gothic," about the painting's contemporary legacy. ...The film becomes the story of the town's long, dogged effort to raise money to build a tourist attraction, the American Gothic House Center, a chance to come back from its second Depression. ...Many Iowans had originally felt insulted and mocked by these two faces, as stereotypes of dour Midwestern rubes. "I think there's a dual meaning that also can be positive," says Freyer, an Iowa City resident who lives in a farm house with a big front porch like the painting's. ...

"American Gothic," stolid, creaky, stuck in a time warp. Pretty near homely. How did it become such a central image in our culture and consciousness?

"No one really knows," says Sasha Waters Freyer, who has made a documentary film "This American Gothic," about the painting's contemporary legacy. ...

The film becomes the story of the town's long, dogged effort to raise money to build a tourist attraction, the American Gothic House Center, a chance to come back from its second Depression. ...

Many Iowans had originally felt insulted and mocked by these two faces, as stereotypes of dour Midwestern rubes. "I think there's a dual meaning that also can be positive," says Freyer, an Iowa City resident who lives in a farm house with a big front porch like the painting's. ...