SPEED
Are we a nation obsessed with speed?.
Even our food has to be “fast”. We prefer “fast” colors in our clothing materials. We
take part in religious observations which including “fasting”. We like elevators which whisk
us up to the upper levels of our buildings at stomach-squeezing speeds. And, most of all,
we like our cars to be “fast.”
What are the highest numbers on your car’s speedometer? I can remember when it
was common to put readings of 150 mph, or more on such meters and many owners tried,
sometimes once too often, to see if the old rigs would do that on the road. We are “sold”
on the speed of the cars we desire. We want the fast ones and can ignore laws which limit
speeds we might use when we drive on public highways.
The people who make the new car commercials for TV know how to produce an
illusion of super speed which seems safe enough. The new cars are often shown traveling
curved highways in mountainous terrain. They are really moving along and, have you ever
noticed their is no oncoming traffic on the strange highways featured on TV commercials.
And, state police are totally absent as well. It may be they do their filming just after dawn
on Sunday mornings, or they get the police to block off a few miles for their use. The roads
are immaculately paved - not a pothole or patch in sight - and shoulders are mowed
and manicured, too, as a rule. The car of your dreams goes whizzing around the curve
and holds to the road beautifully. Another thing, you almost never get a chance to see
who’s driving. The writers and producers want you to feel you are at the wheel for every
tense moment! Often we are shown a rush of scenery slurring by the car windows - a
steady rush of blurred nature. I often wonder at such times if it is the car passing the
scenery or the scenery being rushed past the car window on film. The mighty cars dash off
into the desolate reaches of the mountains and appear again-and-again taking the
sharp curves with ease and assurance... and still no traffic whatsoever. You are doing it!
No people present to distract you!
.
Some spot producers prefer a desert location where their cars can scoot off in a
dramatic spilling of sandy dust into the crisp, clean air. Everything moves in a hurry,
including the talk about special sale prices, reductions, and, far too often, rebates of
many kinds. Special feature on a specific car are mentioned at times, but the main
emphasis is on speed visually and in the manner of presentation. Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!
If future drivers try to move along at the pictured pace, they will get packets of
speeding tickets in record time. Notice, to, that most producers use models with solid
wheels. Spoked wheels - of wood, metal sections or wire - still appear to be going
backward on side shots just like the wagons and buggies in the western movies used to do
when we were kids. One would think they would have learned too overcome that
camera hazard long ago.
It’s more often the speed factor that sells the car on TV, however.
A. L. M. July 26, 2002 [c560wds]
