Magic Highway USA
The Disney version of the future: so optimistic and naive it’s almost impossible to believe they took it seriously.
Four things jump out for me: (1) an assumption of unlimited energy without consequence, (2) traffic densities less than a minor arterial on overscaled roads (never, ever acknowledging the possibility of congestion), (3) a future without any remaining remnants of the past (except in third world countries where they’re still using rickshaws), (4) fins, everywhere.
If you watch movies like Minority Report, you can see this dream still lives in the imagination of some. But the Minority Report vision of vertical highways and automatic cars has been updated to reflect a reality of this vision of the future: the continuing destruction of community (as evidenced by Tom Cruise’s tortured character) brought about by this way of living.
I also enjoyed seeing how they assumed that no one would need to walk anywhere; indeed they made a joke about walking as if it were some relic of an unwanted past! Little did they know that their vision would help contribute to the overweight society we see today.
Good points…I also liked how the massive continent-spanning highways seemed to pass through a backdrop of pristine, untouched nature, as though highway expansion and suburban sprawl would have no effect on land use.
Gord, I couldn’t access the video you posted, but found another one posted on YouTube.
Personally, I found the film inspiring. Wouldn’t it be neat if Granville, Fraser St. or the Drive were in air-conditioned tubes instead of being exposed to the winter doldrums as the are now? Or if my sun-powered car would lift my lard ass up to the mall where all the women go shopping with kids in tow? Where are today’s mavericks with big ideas like these?