Why are there so many cars from the United States in this movie?
I know it's a pointless question but I am curious as to why there aren't more cars from French companies.
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My Vote History
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Because in Europe, in the fifties, America, and American cars, symbolised the future.
After WWII, most of Europe was ravished. The economy didn't really pick up until the mid fiftes, and peaked in the late sixties. That meant, most people didn't really have it that good. At the same time, the economy in the US was in full bloom, so the Americans was percieved as "rich" though they really weren't bu their own standard. But things that the americans considered standard by themselves, was seen as luxury elsewhere. "Everybody" had their own cars in the US, and they had really big cars, at the same time that almost "nobody" had one in Europe. Therefore, the US was seen as the land of hope and glory, the watershed of thoughts that made everything possible. And everybody wanted to be like them. Hence, American cars symbolised status and luxury and the belief in a better world.
As seen from a consumerism perspective. And, of course, Tati opposed that. From that point of view, this film can be seen as a criticism in status seeking consumerism, the conspicious consumption. Tati points in another direction, telling us there's other things in this world that may be more important, in the end.
Thank you.
That explains a lot about the movie and the cars.
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My Vote History
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Also see J. L. Godard's own take on Americans, and American cars, in Au Bout de Souffle, made a year later than this.
When my family and I were in Europe in 1961, I remember seeing an American guy trying to wheel a New Yorker through the streets of a small Swiss town.
[I don't see from this film that Tati was "opposed" to new things. Bemused by them, yes . . . And it was certainly a moment in time when all of the automatic stuff, which had begun in the 1920's or earlier, was really beginning to completely supplant age-old methods and technologies. To the delight, I might add, of untold millions of Americans and non-Americans faced with accomplishing age-old tasks.]
And conspicuous consumption is as old as the hills.
Opposed, bemused. Now you're into semantics. Tati made a clear distinction between the artificial suburban life, with their precious gardens and shallow lifestyles, and what he perceived as the "real" life, lived by real people that lived their life to the fullest, even if it meant getting dirty. To me, he makes a clear choice, pro bohemian, and against ignorant consumerism. He doesn't really "oppose" the lifestyle, at least not covertly. But if you don't walk out of this film with a sense of wanting to seek the true joys of life, then you have a heart of stone. What he does is he's holding up a mirror to the world and tells us, this is how the world goes. And the rest is up to us...
Agreed, though one could argue that the Citroen DS was far ahead of every other car in the world, including American cars. That being said somehow these American cars are perfect for the movie, with their pointless luxury. A DS somehow wouldn't be.
shareThat Cadillac had quite the paint job, I'll give 'em that.
(Pink, green & purple, if you haven't seen the movie)
That was a '56 Chevrolet Bel Air. And just btw, the paint job was customized for this film.
shareum...that wasn't a Cadillac.
It was a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air
Come on lads, bags of swank!
1956
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_11696-Chevrolet-Bel-Air-2413-1956.html
"Facts are stubborn things" - Ronald Reagan
As the Citroen DS was full of futuristic gimmics, it would have fitted M. Arpel's style perfectly! Thanks to its hydropneumatic suspension, the car "lifts up" when you start it, and settles down when the engine is turned off. I'm sure Tati could have invented a couple of gags based on this unusual feature...
Also worth noting, whilst on the subject of French directors and American cars, that JP Melville had a real thing for big US cars and was overjoyed when the first real motorways were built so that he could actually fit his big wide car on the roads.
shareAssuming that the brother-in-law was a man of considerable means, why was he driving an eight year-old Oldsmobile 88 instead of a newer, more luxurious car?
shareAlthough there are a number of American cars, including a beautiful Studebaker coupe there are also a large number of French built cars that aped the styling of America on the 50's.
Simca Aronde and Vedette are classic examples.
Come on lads, bags of swank!