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... Set it Off (1996) Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) Charlie s Angels (2000) The Fast and the Furious (2001) The Lethal Weapon movies (1987-1998) ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Lecture%206:%20Los%20Angeles,%20Movies%20and%20Cars


1
Lecture 6 Los Angeles, Movies and Cars
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
  • Professor Michael Green

2
This Lesson
  • The Rise of Car Culture
  • Los Angeles, Movies and Car Culture
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit

3
The Rise of Car Culture
The Los Angeles Freeways
  • Lesson 6 Part I

4
The Los Angeles Freeways
  • Even though L.A has fewer lane-miles per capita
    than many other major metropolises, freeways are
    one of the major trademarks of Los Angeles, along
    with beaches, palm trees and movie studios.
  • They have become part of the Los Angles myth,
    represented ad infinitum in thousands of movies,
    television shows and other media.
  • CHiPS
  • O.J./White Bronco freeway chase

5
Suburban Sprawl
  • Extensive and complex freeway networks
    criss-cross the still fast-growing region,
    connecting urban centers with their suburbs and
    exurbs as well as the areas of urban sprawl
    between them.
  • Remember, that L.A was built on a real-estate
    boom before industry existed to support it.
    Unlike most cities, which grow outward from their
    cores, L.A. was dealing with suburban sprawl from
    the beginning.

6
The Growth of the Auto in the U.S
  • During the postwar years, as never before, the
    automobile became the dominant factor in American
    life.
  • Among other things, the car became the metaphor
    from which Americans drew their self-image of
    potency and strength.
  • Highways spread across the landscape like a
    gigantic concrete blob, isolating rural towns,
    carving up neighborhoods and destroying street
    culture, bringing congestion to all major
    cities. Marty Jeezer, The Dark Ages
  •  

7
The Destruction of Mass Transit
  • The destruction of mass transit by monopolistic
    business practices made sense for GMs corporate
    policy. Efficient mass transit was a barrier to
    expanding corporate profits. It was inevitable
    that GM would move to drive out all competition
    and increase the market for its private
    vehicles.
  • Jeezer
  • Check out the website, The Streetcar Conspiracy
    linked to the lesson.

8
The End of Mass Mass-transit
  • At the end of World War II, the U.S. still had a
    healthy railroad system and the potential for
    modernizing its mass transit.
  • In 1944, Congress passed the Defense Highway Act,
    with the construction costs to be split 50-50 by
    federal and state govs.
  • Though the government cited national security,
    the real impetus for the program came from
    intense lobbying by the auto industry and its
    allies in oil, rubber and steel.

9
Cars for Everybody
  • As early as the 1920s, cars had begun to
    saturate the economy on the basis of one car per
    family, leading the automakers, especially
    General Motors, to adopt a new marketing
    strategy. Continued expansion could only come
    through planned obsolescence so a family would
    have to buy a car every few years and through
    encouraging two-car families and by making the
    automobile necessary for commuting.
  • Jeezer

10
Making them Bigger
  • Despite urban congestion and the problem of
    parking space, the size of cars was increased
    throughout the postwar period.
  • Automobile manufacturers resisted bringing out
    small, compact cars because big cars mean bigger
    profits and because their motivational research
    departments reported that consumers craved
    bigness as a psychological need.

11
Example
1958 Super Oldsmobile with the 371 Rocket engine.
12
Cars and the Frontier
  • The lure (and myth) of the American Frontier,
    with its emphasis on rugged individualism, has
    always encouraged privatism and isolation.
  • Detroit manipulated and exploited these
    traditions with a vengeance.
  • Such myths play particularly well in Los Angeles,
    since, more than East Coast cities, L.A. has
    retained its identity as a frontier.

13
Another Version
  • In Mass Politics and the Adoption of the
    Automobile in Los Angles, Scott Bottles argues
    that the historical record does not support
    evidence of a corporate conspiracy, despite the
    fact that this version has become firmly lodged
    in the public consciousness.
  • Bottles argues that Angelenos adopted the
    automobile in protest against the inefficient and
    seemingly corrupt railways.

14
Poor Mass Transit
  • Southern California residents during the first
    three decades of the twentieth century constantly
    complained about the quality of rail transit.
    From the publics point of view, the railways
    sought to benefit at its expense.
  • Among other things, the railways deliberately
    ran too few cars, refused to build vital
    crosstown lines, bribed public officials and
    abused their franchises.
  • Bottles

15
The Car as Democratic Symbol
  • The car became a symbol of democratic technology
    freeing the citizenry from the shackles of the
    monopolistic railways.
  • Los Angelenos felt that cars were private and
    offered flexibility and convenience.

16
Opening Up the Suburbs
  • According to the alternate version, the public
    turned to automobiles because it felt the
    streetcar industry had failed in its promise to
    open up the suburbs to development.
  • The automobile, people thought, could complete
    the job of lowering urban densities, therefore
    creating the ideal low-density metropolis. The
    key to suburban utopia was an efficient street
    system and inexpensive automobiles. 
  • Bottles

17
Los Angeles, Movies and Cars
The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Directed by Rob
Cohen
  • Lesson 6 Part II

18
Cars in L.A. Movies
  • Not surprisingly, the Los Angeles obsession with
    cars and driving has been prominently represented
    in Hollywood movies.
  • The movies both reflect and feed the real-life
    chases that regularly occur on the Los Angeles
    freeways.
  • Many car chases are captured on video, with news
    helicopters ready to tape the incidents. Many are
    broadcast live. Some news websites have footage
    of car chases.

19
Some L.A Movie Chases
  • The Terminator (1984) and Terminator II Judgment
    Day (1991)
  • To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
  • Fletch (1985)
  • Set it Off (1996)
  • Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)
  • Charlies Angels (2000)
  • The Fast and the Furious (2001)
  • The Lethal Weapon movies (1987-1998)
  • Pause the lecture and watch clip 1.

20
To Live and Die in L.A.
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) Directed by
William Friedkin
21
Other Examples
  • Falling Down
  • Michael Douglas, sick of the gridlock, climbs out
    of his car during rush hour.
  • Pause the lecture and watch clip 2
  • L.A. Story
  • Steve Martin communes with a freeway sign.
  • Pause the lecture and watch clip 3
  • The movie lampoons road rage on the L.A.
    freeways.
  • Pause the lecture and watch clip 4

22
Pulp Fiction
  • In Quentin Tarantinos alternate L.A, the car is
    a prominently featured motif. Some examples
  • Vincent picks up Mia in a 1964 Chevy Chevelle.
  • The booths at Jack Rabbit Slims are all classic
    cars.
  • Jules and Vincents relationship is established
    in a car. A crucial turning point occurs in the
    same car.
  • Winston Wolfs drives an Acura NSX.
  • A body (and a car) are disposed of in a car
    crusher.
  • The Bruce Willis section of the movie features a
    Checkered Taxicab, a Honda, a Camaro and a Harley
  • Pause the lecture and watch clip 5.
  • Check out the website linked to the lesson.

23
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
  • Lesson 6 Part III

24
Background on The Movie
  • Directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future,
    Forrest Gump, Contact) and written by Jeffrey
    Price and Peter S. Seaman, based on a novel by
    Gary K. Wolf.
  • It was revolutionary for its time. Though not the
    first attempt to combine live action and
    animation Mary Poppins and Song of the South
    had done it, among others it was the first to
    do it so comprehensively and with such
    technological sophistication.

25
Influence
  • The movie started a new era in animation more
    specifically revived animation as a viable
    commercial form, and introduced CGI.
  • Tiny Toons, Animaniacs
  • The Simpsons, South Park, Beavis and Butthead
  • Disney feature animation renaissance
  • The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin
  • Can be argued that the success of the film led to
    Disney being receptive to Pixars proposal for
    first animated feature, Toy Story.

26
Brand Synergy
  • The movie featured an amalgamation of characters
    from Disney, Warner Brothers, and many other
    studios, as well as an executive producer credit
    by Steven Spielberg.
  • This became more important to the blockbuster
    filmmaking 1980s, especially as ancillary markets
    became a huge deal.
  • Warner Brothers would only allow the use of Bugs
    Bunny, if he received equal amount of screen time
    and lines as Walt Disney's biggest star, Mickey
    Mouse.

27
Course Concepts
  • Race, Class and Gender
  • The toons have been allegorized as second class
    citizens and Toontown allegorized as a ghetto.
    See the essay linked to the course.
  • Film Noir
  • Detective film with all the typical tropes
  • Murder
  • Femme Fatale
  • Conspiracy at the highest levels
  • Down and out, cynical detective
  • Pays homage to Chinatown

28
Course Concepts (continued)
  • Cars and Freeways
  • The film fictionalizes the conspiracy from your
    reading, in which corporations try to put street
    cars and public transportation out of business.
  • Also features a talking car, many chases, etc.
  • Self-reflexive Hollywood and Los Angeles
  • Many insider jokes about Hollywood
  • Many references to Hollywoods golden age of
    animation.
  • High Concept
  • You will learn about this in the next lesson

29
End of Lecture 6
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