I sometimes see houses in movies with windows that have no screens. Just wide open windows that one could crawl through.
Are there any places in the USA where this is common? I’m in the midwest and we could not comfortably open windows without screens. Too many flies and mosquitos.
It’s extremely common in Europe, in my experience.
There used to be some people in old houses 40 years ago around here that didn’t have screens, and the usual explanation was they didn’t have money to waste on them. In the last couple decades i don’t remember seeing any nice houses without screens. Only the slum houses don’t all have screens.
To go on with what SibbOleth says, I’ve never lived in a house with a screen (neither door nor window). And quite frankly, I’m not sure I’ve seen one either.
I see with my new guest status nobody can see I’m in Wisconsin. I’m talking about Wisconsin people. The land of moo and mosquitoes.
Thanks, all.
Where?
Yeah, but they have bars on the windows.
In movies, barring a cultural thing, I always assumed it was a camera thing. That way you can see into the house clearly.
Up here in God’s country (Seattle & vicinity), I started out with no screens. Found that they weren’t necessary here - almost never get a mosquito or other bug in the house.
Twenty or so years ago a new set of windows, with screens, was installed. However, each time I washed them I put fewer and fewer screens back on. Wasn’t worth the hassle.
And I guarantee you that if there were a problem with bugs, my wife would NEVER put up with this!
Very few mosquitos in Oregon, so many houses don’t have screens.
My WAGs:
Makes it easier for the camera (and the audience) to see inside or outside the window.
Saves money for the set designer by not having to spend money on something that doesn’t add to the scene, and might possibly detract from it.
Sorry, Iceland and general Northern Europe (which when I read the OP better made me realize that it doesn’t qualify)
Fellow Midwesterner here …
I’ve taken the screens off most of my windows. That way I can see out better.
During the 5-ish months of the year that the weather outside is nice enough to want inside, I often open up many of them. The bugs are fairly few, at least during the day. At night I only open up screened doors, else the light inside would attract way too many bugs.
In the peak of summer the bugs would swarm in even in daytime, but it’s also hot & humid enough that I’d as soon leave the windows closed. And in winter we don’t want the outside in very much, but at least there are no bugs.
Bottom line: no need for window screens any time of year.
When I lived in Vegas, bugs weren’t an issue; almost none live there. We all had special anti-sun screens which pretty well destroyed the view out through them. But they saved $100/mo on air conditioning a small house during the 6 hot months. I often took them down too during the 6 good-or-cool months.
That’s my take on it too. They don’t look good for the movie audience and kids couldn’t visit going through the windows.
Also in California, which is where lots of movies and television shows are filmed, but, more importantly, where the movie and TV people come from, so they probably don’t even think about the screens when they’re dressing a shooting location.
Sometimes you don’t put up screens 'cause it keeps the bugs IN.
Yup, growing up in Wisconsin, we needed the screens to keep the cows out of the house. 
Same reason you never see a car’s rearview mirror in movies.
Whoever says there’s no mosquitoes around Seattle didn’t have my house. Although, the problem is much better since I cleared out some of the brush in the 5 acres of swampy green space behind us.
For film, though, it’s a visual thing according to my wife who has some experience with the biz. You don’t want the view through a window (in either direction) looking gray or fuzzy, the way it can happen with a screen. You may not notice that in natural light, but filming uses artificial and bright lights that can make the screen more obvious. Shine a flashlight on your screens for an example.
And, since the interns get to do things like remove the screens, they’re not going to risk getting blamed for the need to reshoot a scene by leaving screens up.
My tale on lack of screens in W. WA and BC. “Umm, why aren’t there any window screens?” “Because there are no bugs silly!” “Okay, then what are these things flying around our faces trying to suck my blood?”
That’s ok. It is still of interest.
What prompted the question to be specifically an American thing was a curiosity about whether these movies set in America are being realistic or if there is some cinematic reason to avoid screens in movies.