I never knew what this movie was about...

[helen99]

I never saw the movie but I read the script recently. From "Who Framed Roger Rabbit":

Doom: That's right my dear. Enough to dip Toontown off the face of the Earth! [The cover is removed to reveal a large machine.] A vehicle of my own design. 5000 Gallons of heated Dip, pumped at enormous velocity through a pressurized water cannon. Toontown will be erased in a matter of minutes.

Jessica: I suppose you think no one's going to notice Toontown's dissappeared?

Doom: Who's got time to wonder what happened to some ridiculous talking mice when you're driving past at 75 m.p.h.?

Jessica: What are you talking about? There's no road past Toontown.

Doom: Not yet! [Starts slipping on the eyes] Several months ago I had the good providence to stumble upon a plan of the city councils. A construction plan of epic proportions. They're calling it, a Freeway.

Valiant: A Freeway? What the hell's a freeway?

Doom: Eight lanes of shimmering cement running from here to Pasadena. Smooth, straight, fast. Traffic jams will be a thing of
the past.

Valiant: So that's why you killed Acme and Maroon? For this Freeway? You're kidding.

"Doom: Of course not. You lack vision. I see a place where people get off and on the Freeway. On and off. Off and on. All day, all night. Soon where Toontown once stood will be a string of gas stations. Inexpensive motels. Restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food. Tyre salons. Automobile dealerships. And wonderful, wonderful bill boards reaching as far as the eye can see... My god, It'll be beautiful.

Valiant: Come on. Nobody's gonna drive this lousy Freeway when they can take the red car for a nickel.

Doom: Oh, they'll drive. They'll have to. You see, I bought the red car so I could dismantle it."

I never knew how horribly close to home this movie was. Except for the fact that in real life, the good guys lost.

Comments

[stillvisions.livejournal.com]

The movie itself had used conjectured historical events as a basis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_streetcar_scandal

The reality comes down to which side you believe...

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Historical rhetoric aside, the reality that I actually live with is, freeways continue to advance through/over pretty much whatever they want, while trolleys and trains continue to recede and to be underfunded.

The proponents use the same cliches of "progress" and "traffic jams will be a thing of the past" over and over again, and the population continues to buy the hype and lose their quality of life. This is similar to using "revenue and tax base" as an excuse for razing nice little low-level buildings to put in high-rises.

In fact, all of the above create traffic jams where none existed previously, by encouraging more population to settle in an area.

So whatever facts or lack thereof they used to make the movie is rather irrelevant to me, since I live with the results every day.

[dancinglights.livejournal.com]

Pod and I were thinking about the movie a bit the other day after you and Esh had mentioned it. Would you like us to grab a copy and do a movie night sometime, or no?

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a fun thing to do - sure if people feel up to seeing it.

[arethinn]

Wha? Me? Is there another "Esh" floating around out there?

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Oh come on.

[elethian.livejournal.com]

Totally didn't remember that conversation. I've had Potter on the brain for six days, give me a break.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Understood. Azcatraz must have been fantastic...

[silverbromide.livejournal.com]

I think they made the movie because they knew the good guys were losing.

[keyake.livejournal.com]

I concur. It used to be one of my favorite movies as a smallish thing and now I kind of wonder about the causes and effects it had on my wee brain! (hey you should show the kidlet!)

[silverbromide.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's one i want to expose him to early. (Though the squashing of the weasels always made me uncomfortable when i was little.)

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Actually, you may also want to distract him during the dipping of the Shoe. Apparently that really horrified a lot of people who saw it as children. Putting myself in the position of a 3-6 year old seeing that, I can see where I would have probably gotten screaming fits from it (I did after seeing the Bean Sidhe in Darby O'Gill and the Little People). It would be easy to just take him to get a glass of juice during the 'bad' parts.