Notes on the Blues Brothers Car
In what is becoming an annual ritual, I sat my Chinese in-laws down and had them watch The Blues Brothers last night. This film is so rich in meaning, so deeply layered (no, really!), I find I always notice new things in it.
This time I meditated on the car chase scenes. The movie anticipated Driver and GTA by decades, but shares their equation of the motor vehicle with freedom, not only of speech and thought, but from social mores as well. For future reference, here are the properties of the vehicle, a 1974 Dodge Monaco police cruiser (perhaps it belongs in a role-playing game):
- It makes a unique rumbling sound.
- It goes faster than any other car, except the Good Ol' Boys' Winnebago.
- It is equipped with an intertia-neutralizing device that allows it to briefly suspend the laws of physics and change directions instantly. Cars attempting to follow it when it turns invariably crash.
- It can drive through one wall per day without sustaining major damage.
- It can drive through debris fields at normal speeds.
- It can drive rapidly through crowds without harming anyone - this a key distinction vs. GTA. Since this is a vehicle for a Holy Mission, it cannot harm anyone.
- When its Holy Mission is complete, it self-destructs.
posted by Anonymous at 9:23 AM
1 Comments:
What I'm dying to hear is the reaction of your dear Chinese in-laws to the Blues Brothers, which is, to say the least, culturally specific.
It's interesting to reflect on a huge Hollywood comedy that respected and celebrated its subject matter, rather simply expoited it. There was a long blues revival genuinely driven by movie, which was conceived explicitly as a way to reintroduce young white audiences to the Blues. And it did, oddly, make it's best case: American mainstream culture and African-American culture may exist distinctly but separation is an illusion; the musical bones of of all Americans are the Blues. (The long C and W sequence - an attack and an ode and a reminder of common roots at the same time.) It's often hilarious because of the juxtaposition of college boy absurdity and the humanist soul in the Blues.
Giant violent waste is a backdrop for the tiniest downbeat aside. ("There's a lot of space in this mall.") Is there a better example of being an American?
One also notes that some cocaine abuse may have been involved in the production. It would not be hard to make a case that the whole thing is a sanitized ad for the Blues. But it stands up well, and you feel real joy in it's heart. It's a little hard to think of a parallel.
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