This post is due by Tuesday, September 10 @ midnight. No credit given for late posts.
Read the assigned chapters above, and then:
1. Provide 3 SPECIFIC observations about Cars, Culture and Media you learned from EACH chapter of our book, using 2-3 sentences combining the book and your own IYOW analysis.
2. Finally, ask ONE specific question you have of Cars, Culture and Media after completing our reading.
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ReplyDeleteChapter 3:
ReplyDeleteCars: Everyone knows the old stereotype that women are bad drivers, and many people still consider this true. Seiler explains how gender was and still is a prime indicator of driving aptitude. He provides a quote from Alice Marble who said women must focus on "being a driver rather than a woman". If automobility is supposed to express the individual identity of people, why should people be grouped as "drivers" rather than who they are? In addition, Seiler shows that historically, women are more cautious drivers.
Culture: I never knew that the figure of driving was used to separate Americans from communists. Creating freedom was a huge priority for the United States during this time. American capitalists claimed that Russia "merged the individual into the group". Autonomy, social approval, and personal achievement are some of the characteristics Americans wished to convey through driving.
Media: I like the idea of music as media. Especially today, music is used in so many ways to encourage consumption, evoke emotions, and create role models. The rock and roll of the 50's, including artists such as Chuck Berry, romanticized the individual refusal and rebellion that was available in the United States through "freedom". Freedom continued to be used as the main difference between the U.S. and Russia in propaganda films such as "Red Nightmare". The film integrates shots of highway drivers to emphasize the mobility and freedom of Americans.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteCars: One quote in this chapter really captured the power that cars have had on our country. " Cars as both commodity and symbol, affected the American economy, landscape, and social structure more than any other consumer product." That's pretty heavy stuff. It's rare that a consumer product has multiple social, economic, environmental, and political implications. Based on this reading, it seems that African Americans were initially discouraged from buying cars, but were eventually accepted because of their market value rather than freedom. In this sense they were more identified as consumers than people. This furthers the debate between the personal identity provided by driving and the grouping of people caused by driving.
Culture: Some people see the road as a space with no class system or unfair hierarchies . Seiler on the the other hand asserts that roads were "established under specific regimes of reclaimed inequality and limited access." It's troubling to me that a space that should be completely neutral has taken on so many different meanings. In fact, all meanings tend to be organized by race, gender, and sexuality. Examples given in this chapter include the profiling of minority drivers and the racial-spacial politics of highway planning and placement.
Media: I was surprised I had never heard of the Travelguide or the Negro Motorist Green Book. The idea of a guidebook as not only a helpful tool for African Americans to find hospitality but also as a campaign for racial reform is quite clever. I love the idea that the travel books were essentially trying to go out of business. These books were undoubtedly an important part of travel media because they protested the discrimination that confronted black motorists. They also had advertisements of their own in it, making it a double whammy.
QUESTION: Reading about the battle between communism and capitalism and the propaganda of it all, I got to thinking about our current media. Do we still have propaganda that seeks to put down other nationalities and raise the concept of capitalism? I think we certainly do, but it is designed to go unnoticed.
"...movement has always been a major ligament in our culture, knit into the bone and sinew of that body of experience which we call our history... Pierson noted that American archetypes- pioneers, cowboys, rags-to-riches industrialists- had been shaped by experiences of migration." This has always been in the heart of American's consciousness; the Great Gatsby himself earned his riches by first "migrating" around on a boat. (p.82)
ReplyDelete"There was no question that contemporary automobiles were faster; but even speed, which had once promised "...quickened senses, aroused faculties.. acts of heroism, improvisation, and innovation'... had been 'routinized." (p.87). The individual makes his own decisions, and out of necessity use "improvisation and innovation" in order to make his way in the world. But with the familiarity of the road, the individual shrinks, as the values that make him individual are reduced by the commonplace. And that which is common is necessarily not individual.
"Women were, according other studies and for the purposes of establishing auto insurers' risk, more effective at operating a car safely. Yet their automobility exemplified the wrong qualities: docility, tractability, other-direction." (p.88) Women then, as antipode to the risk-taking individual, are safe. But this by itself does not preclude them from individuality. Rather, it's their tendency to be "generally respectful of authority" and "follow the rules of the game," which is conformity, as they are not taking direction from themselves but from the guidelines set out for them by regulatory bodies. Therefore they are viewed as not being as good at driving as men, because they don't embody the ideal of "freedom."
"We earnestly believe that [the guidebook] will mean as much if not more to us as the A.A.A. means tot he white race." (.p.117) "...Newly attired, they entered the restaurant of their choice, and had a most enjoyable evening as visiting foreign dignitaries." (p. 118) It seems that in order for early non-whites to be able to attain the greatest level of freedom, they have to imitate the whites as closely as possible. Non-whites then aren't gaining freedom through the car, they are forced into conformity with the wider expectations of who uses the road- they can't lead, they can only follow the example of the white driver- because, what is a last pioneer?
ReplyDelete"The interstate highway, set apart from and above the landscape and local culture through which it cut, provided the spatial opportunity for the obscuring of one's identity from the scrutiny of others." (p.126) The interstate was a literally a blank slate, a blank place which was the same whether in the mountains or desert, in the south or in the north. This is important for black automobility because it was a place removed from its surroundings, barring the traveler from fields and forests, but also from the culture of the land- and thus racism. Driving on the highway around a big city is very different than driving through it.
"...both obscure or negate, in order to manage, racial difference; both offer their subjects only procedural participation in already established regimes." (p.128) Drivers do not dictate the road, the road dictates drivers (speed limits, traffic patterns, exit numbers, ect.). This is important for equality as it sets a common set of rules everyone must follow, and gives such a paradigm of universality to diffuse through out the whole country. Before, there were different rules for whites and blacks, where they ate, how the behaved, ect., but with the interstate, the playing field has been leveled.
Question: Did America want its non-whites to drive because it is inherently fair, or only to look better in the eyes of a cold war world?
ReplyDeleteChapter 3:
“The figure of the driver; moreover, embodied the ideological gulf separating the United States from the communist antagonists.” The point that Seiler brings up about the act of driving being an important way for Americans to distinguish themselves from communists was really interesting. It’s a physical way for us to express the “American Character” and enjoy the “essential individual freedom.” 72
Americans “were constantly reminded in advertisements, television shows, and pop songs” that on the road they are truly free. There was and still is a large presence of cars in all forms of our media. There is still that constant thread throughout the decades on the emphasis of owning a car and that it is truly a way for you to express your individualism and practice your right to freedom. 84
On page 85 we see again how propaganda has a huge influence on shaping our cultural mind set. When America’s “masculinity was construed as threatened, “propaganda shifted to questioning the Woman’s ability to drive during the post war era. They turned women drivers into a joke. Even though the facts prove women to be more cautious drivers people still view them as less competent. The masculinity of drivers has been so deeply ingrained into our culture.
Chapter 4:
“…they simultaneously limited access to automobility through a system of discrimination, representation that positioned nonwhites outside the new motor culture.” It is so interesting to think about how the road, which has been displayed as a place without limit, a literal road to freedom also has so many other meanings. At the time if you weren’t white, male, or well off the road was more of a symbol of restriction. “Blacks lived at freedoms edge.” 107
“By the early 1950’s soviet propagandists were emphasizing racial injustice in the United States in nearly half their global output.” Putting Americans in a bad light for racial injustice put pressure on them to make themselves look better. They started to incorporate images of, “African Americans as first class citizens,” and started to communicate opportunity and equality. I never knew that this contributed to the movement towards civil rights. 112
As the black middle class grew so did the amount of car owners. That’s when they came out with the “Negro Motorists Green Book.” Although the law allowed for more freedom in the Afican American community as it related to driving, they still faced many social hindrances caused by the racism that law failed to obliterate. The Negro Motorists Green Book gave African American travelers a guide to avoid difficulties and segregation. “The Negro Motorists Green Book simultaneously protested the discrimination that confronted black motorists on American roads and proffered the hegemonic image of American freedom through driving.” 115
Question: I've always known that media and propaganda have a huge influence on our culture but I never knew about the influence it had on encouraging individualism and emphasizing the American way in an effort to distinguish themselves from communists. It started to make me think about if there are any other huge examples of influence like this in our media that encouraged a shift in our culture and guided us to separate ourselves as a nation?
Chapter 3
ReplyDelete-Seiler mentions on page seventy-one that experts believed that almost any cultural phenomenon could assume a propaganda function. From the beginning of the planning stages for the interstate highway system, it was going to be used as propaganda to uphold American exceptionalism.
-Red Nightmare, a Department of Defense propaganda film from 1962, is discussed on page eighty-one. The film provided an image of automobility that represented American freedom. The DoD used American’s ability to move around freely as an example of something that the Soviets could restrict or take away.
-I was intrigued by Daniel Lerner’s quote on page eighty-four which claims that this country was founded on the mobility of the individual. Lerner claims that the mobile individual is capable of things beyond his/her usual ability, and is capable of adapting to a changing or different environment.
Chapter 3:
ReplyDeleteCars: “The accomplishment of these vast and beautiful works of engineering was the expression of a new attitude in which high-speed motion and the qualities of change are not mere abstract conceptions but a vital part of our everyday experiences” (p.104). This quote was an excellent car based statement because it is true even today. Cars are what people (Americans) have come to depend on for everyday tasks. It is not only depended upon for tasks and motion but status symbols, and coming of age acknowledgments. The car become so much more and is embedded within societies everyday life.
Culture: Americans have come to be known for their freedom and individualism. This is why many foreigners come to the States; for the individuality allotted here. Driving is one of the major ways in which Americans can display their freedom to go where they please and how they rely upon themselves and not others to get around (individuality). “The figure of the driver, moreover, embodied… essential individual freedom enjoyed under liberalism and capitalism” (p. 72). This quote illustrates that even when Americans are being “oppressed” the car was a way to break that barrier and still have some freedom and individuality. Nothing stopped the drivers of America and the freedom automobility entailed.
Media: The following quote was very comical for me to read, because of the current state of gas prices. This was from a series of 1950s advertising campaigns funded by the Ethyl Corporation, The American Petroleum Institute and many others. The slogan was as follows: “Drive More…it gets cheaper by the mile!” (p. 99). Gas prices back then may have been cheaper than other commodities, but today that is completely different. Car companies would never be able to get that slogan to work unless they had a renewable energy sourced car. I also find it hard to believe that the cost of owning and operating a car was less than purchasing bus passes. This slogan really intrigued me and got me thinking more about car ownership then and now.
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ReplyDeleteChapter 3:
ReplyDeleteCulture: “… a society that had smashed the once-autonomous male self, elevated women to a position of power in the home, and doomed men to slavish conformity not wholly unlike that experienced by men living under Communist rule.” (p.78) The role of men and women in the realm of automobility was not equal. Women’s roles prior to the Cold War were in the household, but this new culture of feminization postwar gave women a new place in society. I found it interesting how giving women more rights to achieve a certain level of equality was seen as emasculating or threatening. I found it especially fascinating how they compared gender equality to living under communist rule. The two hardly seem related.
Media: “Americans “were constantly reminded in advertising, television shows, and popular songs” that, on the road, “they were truly ‘free,’ modern versions of western pioneers.” (p.84) The media in the twentieth century constantly broadcasted the idea that automobility was the ultimate symbol of American freedom. As an American, you could hop on the empty road and go wherever you wanted. I liked the term “western pioneers” Cotten Seiler used, giving a new identity to the driver as well as a new mindset for what automobility could mean and still means today.
Cars: “There was no question that contemporary automobiles were faster; but even speed, which had once promised “bigger living: quickened senses, aroused faculties, expanded powers of vision…” had been routinized.” (p. 87) The automobile was losing its finesse to the public despite the increasing capabilities and amenities of the car. Cotten Seiler goes on to say that the freedom the car once promised became controlled because of new highway systems. The excitement of driving was starting to lose its previous meaning and became something of the norm.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteCulture: “…although white travelers constructed the open road as a technological democracy open to anyone who owned a car, they simultaneously limited access to automobility through a system of discrimination and representation that positioned nonwhites outside the new motor culture.” (p. 107) In this section, Cotten Seiler brings up the issue of inequality of African Americans on the “open” road. The “freedom” of the road followed the same patterns of inequalities and discrimination found in society. I found it interesting that the media spreads this message of freedom automobility brings, but this freedom was not granted to every American.
Cars: “The car, as both commodity and symbol, affected the American economy, landscape, and social structure more than any other consumer product…” (p. 113) In attempt to provide full citizenship for African Americans, a new purchasing power was given to them. This new purchasing power created a rise in African American car owners. The automobile was a certain initiation process or symbol into the “American way of life” and became a way to improve social mobility of African Americans. The automobile held such power in society and still remains an important status symbol in American culture.
Media: “Travelguide and The Negro Motorist Green Book simultaneously protested the discrimination that confronted black motorists on American roads and proffered the hegemonic image of American freedom through driving.” (p.115) Guide books such as The Travelguide and The Negro Motorist Green Book were important forms of media to inform the African American population about safe places to travel, short stories, and tips. The guidebooks remind me of a “Poor Richard’s Almanac” for automobility, but also acted as tools to raise awareness on racial politics. These books helped mobilize African Americans for social change not only in society, but in automobility.
Question: At what point in history, was it culturally acceptable for women and the African American population to drive?
Chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteCars: “One index of this purchasing power was the increasing rate of car ownership among African Americans over the previous decades” (p.113). This quote was interesting to me because I would think that car dealers back then would see African Americans as a large market to sell too, and it took whites quite a while to accept African Americans rights to drive. If America was focusing purely on capital gain, then the car market should have opened up to those oppressed a lot sooner. Unfortunately this is not how the world worked back then. Clearly allowing more rights to women and African Americans certainly boosted the car market and the popularity of the car because more people had them and were using them in their everyday lives.
Culture: With both men and women, whites and blacks, driving by the middle of the 20th century the car was bound to become an even larger party of the American culture. “The car, as both commodity and symbol, affected the American economy, landscape, and social structure more than any other consumer product; and a given group’s level of automobile use and ownership could be taken as an index of its participation in the ‘American way of life’” (p. 113). This observation was very powerful. It illustrated that cars not only were part of the economy, but they became part of so much more like the landscape and social structure. It is amazing that one commodity became so large and popular enough that it was able to be defined as a key part of the culture, which in the case of Americans, it certainly can be.
Media: The book “The Negro Motorist Green Book” was observed a lot during this chapter. It was designed as a guidebook for new black motorists, but it ended up being much more in terms of individuality. I felt like this should be noted because it was referenced several times when African Americans and driving were being discussed throughout the chapter. Pages 106, 111, and 115 are just a few examples of how this guidebook continues to pop up. If it came up this often in just a book, I couldn’t possibly imagine how often it had to be referred to back then.
Question: My question pertains to one of my quotes, the media one from chapter three. Do you think with the future of cars going towards renewables that the slogan “Drive More… it gets cheaper by the mile!” may be able to be used again? Kind of a reminder of the past and how automobility became such a hit and now in the future renewable automobility will be the next big thing.
3:
ReplyDeleteCARS:
Autobahn: The system of highways that Germany constructed in response to the American Super Highway right? Apparently not. The Reichsautobahn was built first but Cotten is here convincing us that the concept is still American. The idea of auto mobility in a Totalitarian state is contradictory because mobility is identifiable with the individual. Which is in opposition to the idea of a dictated culture.
CULTURE
Everything can be related to the cold war. Even Cars! But in all seriousness I found Cotten's likes to the cold was particularly eye opening. Again the Idea of Talorization is present in a negative light. As American Culture moves towards an embodiment of the individual, Soviet Russia is composed of a groups of manufactured politically and ideology well trained people. Cotten questions the detachment between partial reconciliation of the old individualism with the new statesman. While Capitol could be one of the main stakes in this divide, I still applaud Cotten on reminding us America's political roots, and its pride in where mobility will allow the tree of American Politics to further grow.
MEDIA
The name "Road Gang" straight up sounds BA. Obviously it will be well represented in the media under that name rather than the "highway lobby". Why is this? I feel that in order for any organization to be well represented in the media they must have a cool name. Perhaps because a cool name would resonate better in the limpid brain rather than the neocortex. And The neocortex is much to rational to give away massive amounts of money to government projects.I think.
4
CARS
The Negro Motorist Green Book. Here is the reason why Django is a fictional character. Black cowboys did not exist because they did not have the rights to pursue that same freedom that white American were allowed to. A perfect example of this is mobility. It took African American's a long time to even get the green book, which is still an extension of segregation. Still I found it interesting how African American culture embodied mobility in a different light.
CULTURE
"Mobility relies on immobility. Here Cotten raises attention on the aspect of driving that is not so concerned with breaking away on the open road, but rather black culture having the right to move without hinderance. Segregation laws limited the mobility of the African American driver in ways that challenged progressive social change.
MEDIA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnzw_i4YmKk
CHAPTER 3
ReplyDeleteCars play an important part in the modernized "the 'M-Factor'- movement, migration, and mobility"(82) which is a key part of being American. This was made possible through the ages starting with the clunky covered wagons of the pioneers, to the rise of the American Cowboy, and finally to the individualist "white professional- managerial class" (82).
After World War II, the U.S. experienced was heading towards a "decline of the individual"(72) which was stopped in part due to the need to be American. At that time, anything group oriented was viewed as communist and unpatriotic, continuing with the "essential individual freedom enjoyed under liberalism"(72) and other great American values.
This idea was further imposed on the public through "masculine individualism in cultural and scholarly production and state propaganda (72) which convinced the public that it needed to escape from social rigors and experience personal heroic feats to be truly patriotic.
Chapter 4
The fusion of cars into culture was clear with the printing of The Negro Motorist Green Book, a handy guide for "black drivers to hospitable roadside lodging, restaurants, and mechanical assistance"(106). The fact that this book was printed tells a lot about the time period, as well as the changes that have come since then. This text makes it appear that negroes were not wanted on the road, and that those that gained access to automobility were hard pressed to survive without constant access to aid. In that time period, gas stations were not on every block, and car parts weren't flown in from other states or countries in days time. To be stranded didn't mean for a couple of hours, and it could be especially dangerous for a black family in the American countryside.
This cultural phenomenon of racism was brought to an interesting head when "the finance minister of Ghana"(111) was refused service at a restaurant on his way to our nations capital. The pervasiveness, and inability to distinguish between Americans and foreigners shows just how blind many U.S. citizens were at the time to the injustice that was being carried out by their own hands.
As Russian pundits gained access to U.S. news, they began "emphasizing the racial injustice in the United States"(112) in much of their media distributions. This spread of information of our inequalities to our most hated of enemies must have struck a cord with many Americans as after said outbreak the "Brown decision marked the beginning of genuine structural change to official hierarchies"(112) in the U.S.
I am interested in the causes that led to many racial stereotypes for car purchasing. Was it a governmental movement, or led by other factors?
Chapter Three
ReplyDelete1. Women played a larger role in domestic life during World War II, taking over many of the household duties regularly performed by men. During this brief period of time, their automobility increased, and they were recognized as competent conductors of daily life. Women were once again marginalized in the postwar era, and considered a “clown and problem” behind the wheel of a car. As a woman, and a driver, I resemble that remark. Completely kidding… though the stereotype is still prevalent today.
2. One of the features that distinguished the American automobility movement from others across the globe was its “organic, democratic, “grassroots” evolution,” which evolved slowly and garnered significant amount of public support. While the construction of interstates has become a significant environmental justice issue, those not living in direct proximity with such construction are usually in favor of increased infrastructure, which leads to jobs and a smoother ride to the office.
3. The automobile in America has allowed man to “reach out farther and farther and to communicate with other men more easily and quickly”. Despite the wording, which avoids using any female pronouns, this is especially true in the 21st century as cars become more efficient and more prominent throughout the country. The automobile could definitely be considered a keystone species of our culture.
Chapter Four
1. For black drivers, “the road’s only constant was uncertainty”. While civil rights were in question, many black drivers were discriminated against because of their color. There are extreme examples of this, and of individuals who were brutalized for attempting to exercise their own freedom of mobility.
2. Seiler notes an interesting fact. That aside from the original and unprovoked discrimination felt by members of the minority community, the road is someplace where all members meet on a basis of equality. The same rules apply to everybody. One might argue that car models, types, and accessories now striate this equality when used as a status symbol, but it is an interesting thought.
3. In terms of the political sphere, Seiler notes that highway automobility “did not, and does not, inspire a genuinely democratic political imaginary beyond liberalism”. Highway automobility merely offered subjects “procedural participation in already established regimes.” When we look towards the future, we will not associate citizenship with driving.
**Has anything that we consider a ‘freedom’ ever come without that brief period of uncertainty and conflict? *Especially when considering gender roles & minorities
When I read this chapter, I kept finding parallels between the upcoming tech scene in San Francisco and the development of car culture during the cold war.
ReplyDeleteCULTURE:
Despite evidence that women are completely capable drivers, “the postwar era…resurrected the woman driver as clown and problem, and forcefully asserted gender as a prime indicator of driving aptitude” (Seiler, 85). Companies that develop apps have been accused of exclusively hiring men, despite the multitude of qualified female applicants. Their conveniently vague reasoning? Hiring women is not a “culture fit.” There is this idea that women are not capable of the same work as men, despite qualifications and the fact that companies like Yahoo and eBay having (currently or previously) female C.E.Os.
http://valleywag.gawker.com/this-is-why-there-arent-enough-women-in-tech-1221929631
http://valleywag.gawker.com/culture-fit-is-a-shitty-excuse-for-marginalizing-wome-1186914306
MEDIA:
Seiler identifies a new ethic that “reconcile[s] the individual’s desire for distinction and the corporate imperative for Taylorist regimentation through the concept of the team” (91). Companies that create apps (a new, interactive form of media) have been hiring young people (men) and paying them excessive salaries to work in a collaborative element. By collaborative, they mean playing video games and hitting the bar scene as “inspiration” (think Google complex type recreation) for that rare GREAT idea that will be the next Twitter. Working as a team and having others to bounce ideas off of while sipping Lagunitas IPAs during stand-up comedy night has become a new incarnation of team ethic.
http://valleywag.gawker.com/burning-man-where-millionaires-and-billionaires-find-c-1260016777
http://sfist.com/2012/04/27/beware_the_rise_of_the_brogrammer.php
CARS:
By the cold war period, cars had become somewhat boring; “automobility related more to circulating and shorter distance movement for the purposes of commuting and consuming” (87). I would argue that by now, at least in the Bay Area, cars have become somewhat obsolete for the very elite. People that work in Silicon Valley are now living in San Francisco, commuting via what we natives lovingly call “Google buses” that provide not only air-conditioning and comfy seats but wi-fi. Where cars commute us from place to place, they do so un-productively. Shuttle buses allow commuters to work while providing the utmost standard of luxury for employees.
http://sfist.com/2013/05/30/new_startup_hopes_to_bring_corporat.php
just for fun:
http://sfist.com/2013/05/06/google_bus_pinata_smashed_during_an.php
Chapter 4
ReplyDeleteMEDIA:
Where narratives written by white Americans expressed the freedom of the open road, “black road narratives impress upon the reader the traveler’s “near constant anxiety on the unfamiliar roads…and yet…[engange] nonetheless with a utopian fantasy peculiar to and animated by the imagery of corperate liberalism” (110). The concept of the narrative of both anxiety and a degree of fantastical freedom is often reflected in hip hop songs today. Cars often represent places of freedom from the prying eyes of authority, until you’re caught, where there’s rampant racial profiling.
CULTURE:
Mobility and cars’ connection with free market doctrine helped liberate African Americans from Jim Crow laws to a “black borgoeoise” (119). Among my friends and fellow students, I often hear criticism of capitalism and the free market ideals. In this case it seems that the culture of the free market, via automobility helped free a group of people from a horrific caste into a level of equality by the sheer force of its philosophy and the Green Book.
CARS:
Seiler claims that it was “the limited-access, high-speed interstate rather than the automobile that effected the anonymity of the driving subject” (126). While anonymity is clearly an imperative for African Americans, who were and still are actively discriminated against, I wonder what it means for Americans as a whole. The highways and freeways represent this sort of free fall state, where we go fast and the laws are a little more flexible.
T. Cleopatra Doley
ReplyDeleteChapter 3
1. The shift from individualism to the need for belonging (pg 76) was a huge shift in culture. For so long American culture was for the individual, and to help the individual get ahead in life. But during the cold war, there was a cultural shift that made people worry more about safety rather than individualism. People felt safety in community and belonging, and no longer felt the need to be separate in many aspects (but obviously if the Cold War was in the 1940’s, segregation was still happening, (outlawed in 1950’s, so the Cold War didn’t bring ALL of U.S. culture together, just White U.S culture really.) It brought unity in White culture and thus during this time helped to also push auto-mobility in the U.S. It was like whatever the government said was a good idea for safety, was okay in society.
2. I am quite interested in the whole masculinity to femininity aspect of this chapter. While I personally identity as a femm woman, the gender binaries of cars as told by this professor was just really strangely used. I would have preferred “dominant” vs. “submissive.” Why you ask? Well, when these “submissive” characteristics are attributed to women (or dominance attributed to men) it continues the cycle of violation and oppression to women. This chapter also reminded me of how people would call their car a typically woman’s name, which means they attribute a woman to a thing that is at their control and disposal, and therefore continue the cycle of men who take that control they have over their “feminine” car and enact that same control on an actual person. So, that part of the chapter was just problematic for me.
3. Redefining freedom (on pg 81) was really cool! Seeing how Freedom can mean so many different things depending on how a culture is shifting is a really exciting concept. First is was freedom in the individual, and during the cold war it was freedom in safety and security. Both are valid ways of viewing freedom. And very cool to see.
Chapter 4
1. FINALLY Black people are addressed. Cool. Because I know reading the first 3 chapters, the author was talking about White mobility, and eventually White women, but barely addressed the Black American experience with automobilist. I was really wondering when the author was going to get to this. The Black experience with cars has been incredibly delayed due to the marginalization of Black people in the U.S. and therefore a bit before the Civil Rights movement started, the literally movement and mobility of Black people occurred, giving this group (some) freedom in movement across the U.S.
2. However, on pg 108, the author describes that while Black people were now able to use cars, the cars offered a limited amount of freedom, and it was not at all the same freedom offered to White people and their cars. The “Double bind of freedom” illustrates that while people who were Black were able to utilize vehicles, they were “emancipated and subordinated, equal and inferior” Vehicles represented a freedom to the Black driver that they couldn’t fully take advantage of because of their status in a White supremacist society.
3. Can I just say this is a super awesome chapter and how included I suddenly feel in this discussion? Me being from the inner-city, I never owned a car, I never grew up around cars in an intimate setting like a lot of the other students in the classroom. I feel like my knowledge of cars is incredibly limited due to my serious lacking background with them in the first place. But reading this chapter helps me to see how racial justice and auto-mobility culture has definitely been growing and affecting each other through out history.
*Sigh* I have way more than 3 observations for this chapter, haha.
Question
How can Black drivers gain more protection on the road?
Chapter 3:
ReplyDeleteA major aspect of chapter 3 that resonates with me is the notion of this new form of American individualism, championed by President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon. Briefly, it states that the individual is actualized through his (this gender pronoun is significant) actions in a larger framework, be it a corporation or our capitalist economy. The paradox here is that Eisenhower used statist techniques to foster this individualism into being, leaving the question: if an individual must be taught how to act, is he really an individual? Also, the use of statist strategies to cultivate such a person went against everything the Eisenhower administration stood for. (90-92)
The fluctuating gender tones surrounding automobility in the first half of the 20th century suggest an ambivalent American culture. On page 85, Seiler states that driving took on a masculine nature outside of the great depression and WW2, but incorporated females during these times of hardship – women were upgraded in status when the economy needed bolstering, and then stripped of it during times of growth. What makes this all the more shocking is that each time women drivers were needed, data showing their competence was presented to the public. The opposite was true in more stable times. If men were not so insecure in their masculinity (probably due residual affects of taylorism, and possibly this new individualism) women would not have been their scapegoats, and could have enjoyed driving earlier on.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteAs stated in my last response, I have always understood that with driving and freedom go hand in hand, but have not made a conscious note of it until recently. I guess that is in part because I have always had mobility at my disposal. Reading on page 108 that African Americans were still enslaved by the immobility attributed to Jim Crow laws post liberation made my lifetime privilege all the more obvious. Conversely, it is not clear that keeping a person or group of peoples rooted in one spot is a type of enslavement. Referring contextual to the past case of African American, escape from such an area would have been almost impossible, as travelers would surely encounter hostility.
The culture shift that begins to happen during cold war benefited African Americans, but had perverse motives – America’s greatest incentive to mobilize Blacks was not to right a blatant injustice, but rather to silence Russia’s inquisitions of maltreatment. (111). The propaganda coming out of this period corroborates these motives: “14 million American Negroes own more automobiles than all the 200 million Russians and 300 million Negroes in Africa put together.” (113). Here, the egregious abuse of African Americans is overshadowed by disguised righteous acts.
Q: Although cars can bring mobility, freedom, and thus individuality, wouldn’t owning one be a type of conformity? This is pretty apparent in American Graffiti.
Chapter 3:
ReplyDeletepg 85 -In terms of culture, I think that this section is pretty comical because this same argument is still going on today- like that All State commercial about “safe driving” when the woman gets her superior driver’s check in the mail. It is still a stigma that women are the lesser drivers or should not be rolling up in that extremely nice, expensive and fast car.
Pg 79: Peoples’ Capitalism campaign was a huge part in the media during this time because it was refuting the Soviet’s propaganda that criticized the American way. By running this campaign I think it relates directly back to cars because, as we have been discussing in class, being able to own a car directly reflects ones status and helps to define that person as an individual- as “owning” a part of the economy would be at this time. This capitalism is supposed to make sure that these opportunities continue to present themselves as long as the individual is a hard working contributor to society. The failure of this campaign completely launched the loss of the individual for America.
pg 97 Cars: It is pretty incredible that in 1955 Eisenhower had so much trouble creating the ultimate highway system. It was not believed to be worth as much as it cost at the time, and was kind of brushed off and negatively received. This just automatically makes me wonder “what if” the bill was not compromised and the Federal-Aid Highway Act was never started.
Chapter 4:
pg 115-116
Media- the Green Book finally speaks out about the difference between white drivers and black drivers. This section made me want to find this book/guide and read through it, just because it is an interesting study. I think that the way Green reached his audience- through a book that was very unique and accepted submissions from writers who had had these experiences themselves- was especially successful.
Cars: I never realized how the automobile played such a large roll in yet another white-black conflict item/action. On the first page of the chapter it describes a situation involving a black couple and hostile firemen- while reading about the horrible events that took place, it was truly difficult to realize that this was because of a car. As a free nation, the way that whites tend to try to “control the mobility of nonwhites” is largely hypocritical, especially connecting to this idea of the free individual being able to choose his own destiny.
Culture: Referred to at the “freedom machines” on page 125, it is powerful to think about how a black person must have felt when there was no true discrimination on the highway to get in their way. It seems that on the interstate everyone is on the same level, no matter who you are or which car you are driving. There were no skin colors associated with the cars, and because of this all of the rules had to be followed by everyone and were not escapable but just those who were privileged. This must have been a truly humbling experience for those racist white men of this time period.
Question: Were African Americans ever denied the right/opportunity to buy certain types of cars that were considered white-status only?
Chapter 3:
ReplyDelete• Page 76: “a massive, almost glacial, shift away from the passion for individual freedom and toward a desire for security of association, of belonging, of conformity.” I believe that desire is still prevalent today; I believe you can see the pattern with consumerism. I think that when someone is making a decision on what to buy, there is definitely some influence by what is popular at the time. You can also see it in fashion and hairstyles. For some reason being seen or thought of as different has become a bad thing.
• Page 81: “In Red Nightmare, as in so much postwar art and culture, automobility provided the critical illustration of American freedom.” The image of the ‘American’ character have always been shaped by experiences of migration. The older image of freedom and individualism was of the cowboy roaming free on the land, and had evolved into the individual getting into his car and having the freedom to drive wherever he wanted. This ideal had a major role in the growth of car culture.
• Page 97: “The mainstream press was largely sympathetic to the Clay plan – indeed, to highway building in general, not least because of the windfall its advertisers would receive.” I understand that if the advertisers weren’t due to make lots of money that the media would have come to the conclusion that an extensive highway system would be a good idea. However, it only leads me to ponder about just how much influence did that have on the opinions of people in the media. If there wasn’t such wide acceptance of the highway system, would that have caused a reduction in size? On the other hand, would it have made any difference at all?
Chapter 4
• Page 106: “It was in this historical context (post WW2/Cold War) that African Americans’ desire and fitness for citizenship were tethered to and divined in their participation in automobility, a practice that fused self-determination and self-representation, mobility, consumption, and social economy.” In an era of changing mindsets, the way for African Americans to be accepted into the society they were slowly being welcomed to was to conform to what the prevailing image of a free American was, a person who can get in their car and drive wherever they want.
• The interstate was supposed to be a state that transcended class and color but for the African Americans, it did neither. I knew that even into the 1950s and 1960s that racism was still quite prevalent but I did not think that there were guidebooks made of roads, counties, and roadside establishments that were black-friendly. I guess I assumed that by this time it was the acts of a few that were riling up the many when in large groups but it appears the irrational hate was still very widespread.
• The local, back roads through different communities were marked with uncertainty to the African Americans. They could not be sure if they would receive a good, bad, or neutral reaction when passing through these communities so closely. It was not until the interstate that by passed these communities and allowed them to get to where they want to go comfortably. As Seiler states on page 126, “It was the limited access, high speed interstate, rather than the automobile, that effected the anonymity of the driving subject.”
Chapter 3
ReplyDeleteCars: “Automobility did not merely require expansion, it merited it.” (Page 99) Automobiles began to make a stamp on our society and cars were filling the urban and suburban areas. Cars brought freedom and brought people closer together because of the ease of traveling by car. “Already the automobile has done great things for people. It has taken man out beyond the small confines of the world in which he used to live.” (Page 100)
Culture: “Historians have noted that the Eisenhower administration receives perhaps inordinate credit for implementing the Interstate Highway System, the original plan of which had been formulated by previous administrations.” (Page 90) The Interstate Highway System has changed the culture of the US because without the intense system we would not be able to travel long distances as fast as we can today. Also it changed our culture because the US put money into building the highway system instead of expanding public transit. The Interstate Highway System is unique to the US and has created a car focused culture.
Media: “The 1956 Ford pamphlet Freedom of the American Road.” (Page 99) The pamphlet was a form of media for that time period that had advertisements and information that they wanted spread. Media focused cars and mobility to give consumers a chance to see what they could do with their car and the places they could now travel. Cars brought another outlet of media.
Chapter 4
Cars: “It was the limited access, high-speed interstate, rather than the automobile, that effected the anonymity of the driving subject.” (page 126) African Americans struggled to have the right to operate an automobile, but even if they were allowed to drive they were still restricted. Having complete freedom of driving was a privilege that African Americans did not have access to, they were hidden from the fancy cars and highways.
Culture: “Southern legislatures attempted to limit the mobility of African Americans.” (Page 107) During the time of racism throughout the United States, especially in the South, African Americans were reluctant to gain access to a car. If they were able to drive they were driving small distances in cars that were barely fit for safe driving. The roads were segregated and African Americans were targeted.
Media: “The Negro Motorist Green Book” (Page 106) Books were published and read throughout the public about the controversial topic of African Americans and having access to driving automobiles. The books were for or against African Americans driving on the roads along side White Americans.
Chapter 3
ReplyDelete- The US became very good at positioning anything as propaganda. At this point, their agenda was getting citizens to dislike communism, collectivism, and the Soviet Union. Among other reasons, the interstate highway system flourished because it was positioned as propaganda promoting freedom and individualism. Seiler mentions that scholarly accounts of the American character at this time actually bore a close resemblance to that of the Soviet Union.
- There were other forms of propaganda such as the “People’s capitalism” campaign, which its creators described as a campaign with the single objective of reeducating the American people to our way of life.” Seems to me that this campaign promoted collectivist labor behind a mask of individuality and capitalism.
- Writers like Jack Kerouac further ingrained automobility and the highway in American culture through literature. At the time, masculinity could have been interpreted as threatened, and Kerouac’s works masculinized the highway.
Chapter 4
- "Mobility relies on immobility" - this is the idea that some people are not granted personhood on the highway, thus are immobile, so other people are mobile/can travel. I don't understand how this works but I would like to...
- Black people use the Travel Guide and Negro Motorist Green Book to find routes and places to stay where they wouldn’t find trouble. Upsets me that a white male gets instant freedom on the highway whereas black people need to use a text.
- “Only in automobiles on public roads, do landlords and tenants and white people and Negroes of the Black Belt meet on a basis of equality.” Interpreting this quote, it seems like it argues that on the road, people are not seen as people, just cars – the road levels the playing field. According to other accounts from the book, it doesn't seem like this was true much of the time.
Question: What social/cultural/aesthetic images did the USA want other nations to associate with the interstate highway system?
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ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteChapter three:
“Permeating this discourse was the dread of conformity...a number of cultural critics diagnosed what Archibald Macleish called, ‘a massive, almost glacial, shift away from the passion for individual freedom and toward a desire for security of association, of belonging, of conformity.” (76) I think this cultural shift from this American character of the 1950’s to conformity set off a major consumerism culture. Conformity and technological advancements appear to advance hand in hand, with cars in the 1950’s to tv’s, computers, and now iphones. It’s the idea that everyone has it, and one doesn’t want to feel left out, so consumerism is perked by this belongingness, and ability to fit in if you have what everyone else has.
*“...new relations with the physical environment based on a view of nature different from the European...a new conception of human fellowship...and... even possibly a new attitude toward the self.” (82) I think this quote is crucial, as this chapter has been emphasizing the idea of loss of the individual, but looking past the idea of conformity and what cars do for us in a metaphorically sense, I think it’s important to recognize it’s ability to offer an escape and a change, a chance to go somewhere new, escape, or getaway, whatever the need is at the time. It offers a great deal of possibility and opportunity to see what else is out there, and always a chance to help redefine the individual.
“The citizen, the company emphasized, “has to stop thinking of his personal payment for highways, such as taxes, tolls, or property, as contributions to a vague someone else, and back the necessary measures as an investment of permanent value to his nation and himself.” (99) While the highway network system meant freedom and a distinguishing Americans from the Soviets, I think it’s key to think about how this one expansion, sprouted from the birth of the car, and help of the countries tax payers and drivers brought the idea of communication, and expansion of communities and businesses to a whole new level. Travel is key for many businesses to flourish these days. While initially it was benefitting the gas companies, dealerships, and construction workers, think about what it created. For example, if we hadn’t expand, motels, hotels, would not exist. Cars and transportation and the highway system really helped this country grow and expand.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete“...midcentury guidebooks Travelguide and The Negro Motorist Green Book...directed black drivers to hospitable roadside lodging, restaurants, and mechanical assistance...” (106) I think this concept of individualism and freedom is completely contradicted by this new idea of power of the road, what was meant to serve as each mans form of freedom suddenly has this separation of power and control of the road, and this power of the white. The prior chapters provoke a strong sense of independence, then conformity, then this opportunity at independence again, but no these roads have only driven us to separation, a new road.
“The car, as both commodity and symbol, affected the American economy, landscape, and social structure more than any other consumer product..” (113) I think this one sentence alone sums up a major observation gathered from the initial chapters of this book, and through the progression of the car and it’s results on a society, on a country, physically and metaphorically. The symbolism of the car and it’s journey into society, its infrastructure and physical change of the landscape, and the way it brought about the spread of the economy, communication and essentially the travel of businesses and travel and spread of a country as a whole. I think this statement brings new meaning to the vehicle parked outside your house.
“The increasingly affluent, numerous, and mobile members of the black middle class, the guidebook editors suggested, were more identifiable by their status as consumers than by their race.” (119) I thought it was interesting how this book goes into great depth of the battle for African Americans rights on the roads, and the guidebooks necessary for them to travel with ease through the segregated country, by no means is this observation meant to undermine the battle for equal rights, but I find it very interesting that it returns to the idea of consumerism and in this instance more identified than race. How can consumption overshine the racial issues of that era?
Question:
In regards to my last observation, and the idea that the black middle class, the guidebooks suggested, were more identifiable by their status as consumers than by their race, I’m curious of how the consumeristic culture helped with the shift towards equal rights as it was a means for companies to make more profit allowing all individuals rights to their products, and what issues arose from this.
Chapter 3:
ReplyDeleteCulture: In chapter 3 it is talking about individualism and I feel that this directly ties into the culture surrounding cars. It talks about how in the post cold war their is the “decline of the individual” However, in having the highway system and automobiles it kept individual freedom alive in americans. It also shows that this individualism is alive and well under capitalism and liberalism.
Media: When talking about the clay plan, the media seemed to have little effect. It said that even after having “favorable exposure in the press” the plan did not make it far through congress. This is much different than now where media plays a huge role in legislation and is very connected laws and acts that pass.
Cars: This freedom this word that everyone strive for. To be free to do as they please and go where they please. Cars made this possible and this is shown through this quote from the book “...automobility provided the crucial illustration of American freedom.” (p81) This ties into becoming self sufficient, however this soon goes to shit when you realize your relying on a car...
Chapter 4:
Cars: Going off of the theme of freedom explored through cars in the previous chapter, race is also a big idea with cars and the road. The car, in a sense creates as a space where all are created equal. In a sense creating equal citizenship because no one is recognized within in their vehicles and therefore no one is judged or stereotyped, therefore creating , in a sense, a “nonracial polity” (p 107). While whites attempted to limit african american’s access to cars, they could not stop it, and this was a time where african americans were caught in between slavery and freedom.
Media: Media was a very interesting tool that was used during the time of the cold war. Russia was broadcasting propaganda to half the world showing how poorly American-Americans were treated in the United States in an attempt to gain more support from other countries. While back home, the United States was using the media to show that African-Americans were free because they could drive and they were much better off than anyone in communist Russia. This in a sense accomplished two things( assuming people believed it). 1. African-Americans looked like they had more freedom than they actually did, and 2. More people would be in support of the US.
Culture: The Cadillac culture signifies a ‘first class American’. And African-Americans, recognizing this, bought Cadillacs in an attempt to gain more freedoms and be seen as a “genuine first class American”. The book “Why Negros Buy Cadillacs” talks about this idea and the culture around Cadillacs and the status symbols that they represent, regardless of race.
Question:
Did African-Americans have trouble at dealerships buying cars?
Rev it up, colleagues - bravo.
ReplyDeleteWe'll take a look today in class at your reflections.
Dr. W
Chapter 3.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter introduces the idea of the struggle between American individualism, and Soviet collectivism. It also highlights the struggle of freedom to identify itself through its inherent intangibility. The automobile enhanced notion of freedom and its consumer culture met great hardships against non-materialistic regimes.
On page 76 Seiler describes how people shifted their expectations from freedom to security. This new belief also strayed from the idea of the autonomous individual in favor of conformity. I find this ironic that through the fear mongering and paranoia of the Cold War beliefs that were supposed to be saved and defended were instead tested and almost lost.
The struggle to create the interstate highway system is later described within the chapter. This is relevant to the subject because the most effective mean for molding public opinion was to frame the need for reliable roads as a matter of security, which it was. I find this to be a really good example of the collision of pertinent themes at the time, like paranoia, along with themes of car culture, like mobility.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 starts with the optimism that several authors share of the road and driving being an equalizing force in society and one devoid of discrimination. The author continues with his opinion, which is, “the space of the American road, like the contours of citizenship, was established under specific regimes of racialized inequality and limited access whose codes it reproduces.” I find this quote to be particularly powerful because it places the freedom of the road as not being independent of the racism and discrimination that exist in our society.
This chapter later describes the need of equality as a “Cold War Imperative.” This means that to counter Soviet propaganda, which framed the US as a bigoted state, the US had to integrate African Americans as first class citizens. This created the need to have African Americans driving.
The optimistic view of the road as previously stated was achieved with the interstate highway system along with federal oversight. This meant that individual states had no say in the matter and African Americans could enjoy being free on the road. This is definitely a common theme of the time where racism and discrimination can only be stopped (or at least controlled) through federal efforts.
Chapter Three
ReplyDelete1. page 76 “A number of cultural critics diagnosed what Archibald MacLeish called “a massive, almost glacial, shift away from the passion for individual freedom and toward a desire for security of association, of belonging, of conformity.” I think this era was one where the US citizens were scared into conformity. Given the context of when this shift occurred it makes sense that citizens were brought together, and were to develop national pride. It is interesting though, that it evolved to total conformity- functioning as the model American man and woman. I would have expected unity instead, everyone banding together to be proud of their country and work towards its success. But in this unity, everyone slowly became the same, working for the same things in the same way, ways that they thought were expected and almost mandatory. I found this part very interesting because it truly set the stage for the automotive culture. Everyone in cubicles working 9-5 in suit and ties, or housewives at home caring for children- it was all the same story. And then the car came along and rocked everyones world, gave them something new and different to show off.
2. page 85 “ During this time, economic and martial necessities shaped new representations in popular culture and state propaganda of women’s fortitude and competence, and statistics compiled by insurance companies and others pointed to women as the more circumspect drivers.” This passage I found interesting because it really speaks to the power of media then, and now. Despite blatant facts proving otherwise, the media portrayals of women took precedent in the culture of that time. Both men and women abided by these stereotypes mindlessly. I believe women would act, and joke, and talk about their driving skills the way they were supposed to just to fit in. conformity strikes again. It is also a bit mind boggling how these stereotypes are still present today. Media may be stronger and more convincing these days, but facts are facts and they still remain… how has this cultural norm not been changed?
3. page 95 “The current highway system, Vice President Nixon declared, “is obsolete because it just happened”; in the development of automibility, “government raised no controlling hand,” wrote two 1951 commentators; and American Motors Executive George Romney asserted that the modern highway was “like the vehicles that created it… the product of the people, a thing made by the people for the people.” RED FLAGS ALL AROUND on this entry. I do not think the highway system just happened. Our country envied what Germany had done with its roads and we wanted to do it bigger and better. The government may not have orchestrated the whole thing but I don’t think it is fair to say they had no controlling hand. Furthermore, Nixon is incorrect in calling vehicles a product of the people, by the people, for the people. It was a product of the industrial age, marketed and sold to the US population in a time of vulnerability, made by machines, which were removing people from their jobs…. Any chance this Romney is related to Mitt?
From this chapter I was left with one major question… were cars and car culture a thing created to allow the average American to feel as though they were still an individual? Despite the fact that they were living in an increasingly conformist society, in which they were expected to fulfill and maintain stereotypes and ideals?
Chapter 3
ReplyDelete“The system of values that animates our society – the principles of freedom” tolerance, the importance of the individual” (70) are characteristics that embody the automobile and what it has done for American society. These same characteristics look to be applied to the Eisenhower Interstate System, which gives the allusion of freedom, tolerance, and the importance of the individual person.
I thought it was interesting how Seiler says the interstate is “a massive piece of propaganda” dedicating our society to an age of motion. I never really thought of these two factors of American society clashing together but I can see how this Interstate System can be used to make people believe in and grasp America and American society more.
“It has been speculated that the military and nuclear threat the cold war presents was the key factor in enabling the Road Gang to defeat its rivalry- railroads, the pipeline… (98)“ This made me think that if we didn’t have to face the Cold War that there wouldn’t be an interstate system like what we see today. Society would be completely different and the car would not be as integral to everyday life as it is today.
Chapter 4
It was interesting to read how the interstate creation “limited access to automobility through a system of discrimination and representation that positioned nonwhites outside the new motor culture”(107). As much as I like to think that the Interstate was built for unity it is clear that there was much segregation and racism involved. This kept them “suspended between the world of slavery that had once been theirs and a world of freedom that still belonged mostly to whites”(107).
“By the early 1950s, Soviet propagandists were emphasizing racial injustice in the United States in nearly half of their global output” (112). I never thought the Soviets would use our own creation of the interstate against us. This affected the United States and called for social reform and dismissal of the though of the “model Negro.”
I also thought it was interesting how “only in automobiles on public roads do landlords and tenants and white people and Negroes of the Black Belt meet on a basis of equality’9”(124). Although there was much controversy in the world and even in the United States the automobile still offered everyone the same equality, enjoyment, and freedom.