It’s almost impossible to even imagine what the world would be like without the automobile. Even countries where the cost is too prohibitive for a vast number of citizens, the gas-powered vehicle is everywhere in other forms. Places where there are more concentrated efforts to move toward green locomotion have their share of automobiles for emergencies. In the United States, the love affair with the automobile is still a primary feature of the landscape. It is one of the most common objects in the visual field, and it’s an essential part of the imagination. From the glorious whitewalls of the 30s, to the gorgeous pacer wheels of today, the car is a symbol of motion and change.
There are cars in films as well as cars in dreams. They can symbolize the same things, whether they are in the subconscious or on the screen. A stalled car can represent plans gone sour, and a fast car can signify a life that is out of control, and this is true in film language as well as the language of the inner psyche. In both worlds, the running theme seems to have something to do with control. A house can represent the stable self, or the stable family, but the car represents our own volition, our freedom of movement, and our own ability to make and follow our life’s direction.
It might sound mythic, and it really is. It’ a very powerful metaphor that also happens to exist in the world. The early auto makers absolutely recognized the myth that was being evoked. It was in all the early advertising for Fords in the first days of mass production. The way the automobile has evolved suggests that either the advertising was incredibly successful, or that the manufacturers were building something that was more powerful than the media machines that celebrated it.
It’s not lost any of its momentum, either. The old, unreliable tires from the early days are now replaced by the technological advancements of nitto tires , and fuel injection replaces the carburetor. Every generation sees big changes to the technology of the auto. Even radical shifts to the market, like the rise of suvs, and their subsequent decline are part of a rather constant story of the centrality of the vehicle in everyday life. The most romantic ideas of the landscape in the U.S. are fed by the invention of the automobile. Travel, work, recreation, and even romance, have immediate connections to four wheels. It is a thing that connects here to there, on the road, and in our dreams.