Top Ten Car Revelations

1) Cars offer many trade offs, but one of the biggest is being a protective shell.

Cars offer gateways of seclusion from people around us. In the film American Graffiti the car was a form of protection from thugs, relationship problems, friend problems, and a place to escape people’s own difficulties. Cars still today, are these gateways of escape, and therefore a form of protection from the harsh realities of the surrounding world. “Many of these travelers were sponsored in one way or another by auto companies, who promoted the journeys as “reliability tours” demonstrating the quality of a particular made or model” (Seiler, 47). I chose this quotation to represent this revelation because it illustrates that cars promote journeys, journeys away from the troubling world. By offering people an escape, it helps build a protection barrier. I, myself, use my car for protection and escape frequently. The car offers us the ability to get away and not have anything impact us further as we drive along. This bond between car and man has grown over the years of automobility, and still today cars are our protective shelters and gateways to escape.

2) Cars offer the idea of being an individual, but in reality people are still part of the collective on the road.

"To divest of her particularity and enter on a par with the other individuals on the public road, all of whom are similarly veiled by their machines and following uniform protocols of driving" (Seiler, 140). Many people think that when they are in their cars they have all this freedom to do as you want because you can go anywhere and are alone, but in reality you are restricted. You have to go certain speed limits, you can only go on roads that permit you, you have to respect others on the road; any violation of these rules results in penalties if a person is caught. Clearly the road does not offer all the freedom and individuality that people often believe they have. Driving in a car solo may mean you are alone, but once you hit the main roads, you certainly are no longer an individual, you are now part of the collective use of drivers, all trying to get where they need to go.

3) Car media is designed to target one or more parts of the brain to get people interested and consumed into the car culture.

The brain processes 400 billion bits of information every second, and only 2000 bits that we are conscious of. The brain is highly complex and has three major regions (discussed in this class), the neocortex, the limbic, and the reptilian. Car ads today focus on sex appeal, mainly targeting the reptilian brain for mating, but many others catch viewers attention with music, visual aids, and words on the screen. There are many methods that capture the viewers attention by targeting certain parts of the brain. "There is a marvelous moment in the hit movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? that sums up our present national predicament very nicely. The story is set in Los Angeles in 1947. The scene is a dreary warehouse, headquarters of the villain, Judge Doom, a cartoon character masquerading as a human being..." (Kunstler, 9). Kunstler in his book used the part of the brain that recognizes memories, and even describes a scene targeting another part of the brain. All sorts of media use this method, even writers in books, who are trying to prove very important points like Kunstler. Media is a big part of our society, so by targeting our most important organ, viewers are bound to be hooked and pay attention to what is in front of them. A lot of our class ad presentations targeted various parts of the brain, and each student had to list how the brain was targeted. By doing these presentations we were all able to see that with everything we watch or read, there is some connection to our brain, whether we realize it or not.

4) Car stereotypes still exist plentifully today.

People are constantly being subjected to car stereotypes throughout their lives; "the car makes the man" or "women are terrible drivers." These are just two examples of the many that exist. Car stereotypes have been around for a while. "Indeed, the rise of mass automobility offered a pretext for calling subordinate groups' claims to citizenship further into question, with doubts about 'safe driving'" (Seiler, 58). This quotation targets when women first began to drive, and how men viewed women's new mass numbers on the road as a risk of safety. Today women are still criticized for their driving skills, even though it has been proven that women tend to be better drivers and have less accidents. The other major stereotype to be addressed is that "the car makes the man." All sorts of media pick up on this stereotype and use it to their benefit. "What do I like about this car?! I like the way I look in it!" (Lutz, 2). People these days are buying cars they think will make them look better, more successful, hoping to move up the status ladder. Cars are now a symbol for who we are and we are therefore furthering the stereotype that cars define who we are. Clearly we need a cultural shift away from this, but it cannot happen without a conscious effort to negate such stereotypes.

5) Cars are now embedded in our lives.

On page 200 in the book The Geography of Nowhere Kunstler describes a conversation he has with a mother who is sitting on a bench in a park, with her child asleep in a stroller next to her. She talks about the peacefulness of the park and how she loves coming there. Kunstler continues to ask her why she thinks it is peaceful but she never directly responds. "I tried and tried, but I could not drag out of her any admission that, perhaps, the place was peaceful because there were no cars around" (Kunstler, 200). Cars are such a large part of our lives today that many people do not even realize how we are constantly hearing cars roll by (unless you live in the woods). It's just a common sound we hear everyday and think nothing of now. Also, as a short reference to Lutz in her book Carjacked, she repeatedly points out that cars should be viewed as a tool and not a family member, which is how some people treat their cars. Cars were made to serve us, and too many people live to baby their cars and make sure they are in pristine condition. Life has much more to offer, rather than wasting our time on something that destroys the environment and is constantly being upgraded to the bigger and better every year, slowly draining people of their money.

6) Automobility encourages unhealthy lifestyles.

Today, people drive such short distances and then complain about gas and mileage. Americans have become lazy and spend far too much of their time in their cars going to places that are unnecessary or do not require a car to get there, the car is just easier. "Americans made over one and a half million more stops in their cars to get something to eat or to buy a cup of coffee" (Lutz, 138). Lutz discusses "the Starbucks effect" and how people make meaningless short trips with their cars that they now view as essential. With cars taking us where we need to go, and allowing us access to food anywhere, people have the ability to eat more and exercise less, causing severe health risks. Another unhealthy part of cars is their emissions. Lutz in another part of her book discusses smog in a city. "I sort of plan my workouts at different hours and try to work out when the smog is less.' Even when the report is relatively good, she still may have to stop, though, because she often experiences lung pain when she runs" (Lutz, 171). Car emissions are a big problem as the world today continues to shift towards a "greener" world. It is the hope that in the future, more cars will have less emissions and will not impact humans everyday lives as much. A person should be able to run for exercise and not have to worry about the air she is breathing. This alone shows that we need to make a shift away from this unhealthy lifestyle that has come to be the norm of our society.

7) Homes, cities, and suburbs are built with a car infrastructure in mind.

Cities are designed based around roads. Businesses are placed along streets to capture drivers attention, but other businesses avoid traffic dense streets to ensure that potential costumers will have parking and not have to worry about traffic. Cars impact our economy and our home lives. People move away from cities to get away from cars, but in the end, they are relying on cars that much more because a car is then needed for transport to and from the city for necessities and pleasure. "The suburban 'developments' of today and the shopping smarm that clutters up so much of the landscape in between them, arose from the idea, rather peculiar to America, that neither the city nor the country was really a suitable place to live" (Kunstler, 39). Many people recognize how dependent our society is on automobiles and changes are slowly being made today. Cities are trying to change to be more walking and biking friendly so that infrastructures are still being used, just in a more environmentally friendly way. Shifts like these need to continue to be made and will result in better infrastructure and in the future a less dependent car society.

8) Cars offer a sense of adventure (especially in media) to attract people to purchase and use cars.

"Model names invite the driver to see him or herself as an explorer in nature. There is not an automaker without countless such names: Ford's Expedition, Explorer, and Escape; the Jeep Compass and Liberty; Land Rover's Range Rover; the Lincoln Navigator; the Isuzu Ascender..." (Lutz, 16). Cars are named to inspire a sense of adventure in the driver, and a fancy name may encourage that person to do more with their car and go further. People also enjoy the ability to tell people about their fancy car names, and let the mind wonder on the cars capabilities based upon the name. Movies and other media further this idea that naming a car something adventurous may enhance the vehicles capabilities. "Movies and commercials are our nation's myth makers, spinning out compelling versions of the stories we tell ourselves about what we love and what we fear, what we aspire to, and what we seek to protect" (Lutz, 14). Media encourages us to believe that cars are capable of anything, but in reality they can be limited, and most people have cars for show, not for actual expedition like the ads display.

9) Cars were originally frowned upon, who knew we would come to depend on them so much today.

Originally cars were hated and mass transit was the preferred method of transport. "I do not like motor cars and never will until I am able to own one" (Seiler, 37). This was a big reason cars were disliked, besides their health risks. Many people could not afford a car, therefore furthering the gap between rich and poor and societal boundaries. As soon as the car became more affordable this view changed though and our society flocked to cars. It is sad that money and cars dominate our society, but over the years it just became the norm. One lucky thing that is happening now is the "green shift" and hopefully with this change, a newer, environmentally friendly method of transport will come about.

10) We WILL move towards a sustainable car future.

With rising gas prices, an environmental demand, and the stagnant economy, a demand for cheaper, greener cars is on the rise. The movie Revenge of the Electric Car clearly illustrated that a major change in automobility is on the rise. I could not be more happy about this change, and look forward to the day that cars will no longer run on fossil fuels. Already small changes are being made to encourage mass transit options and limit SOV's. In Portland, "At the same time that the light rail started operating, the city put a 'parking lid' on the total number of parking spaces downtown" (Kunstler, 203). Portland is a major icon for sustainable cities. Bikes are the main means of transport and cars are the bother. This is the type of city I would like to see and will hopefully take over the rest of the globe, before complete chaos sets in over fuel.

** Pictures all came from Google Images and the word "car" put in the search bar. Many pages were surfed for the right images :)