First, my car:
And now the new car, "smiley":
AUUUGGH!Why is this so strange? Like pop music(*), cars are rarely happy. When cars are anthropomorphized, they're usually made to look angry or aggressive. Consider sports cars like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, BMW M3, Dodge Viper, etc. Grr! Maybe people want their cars to scowl so other drivers will be warned in advance of their intentions. Driving is packed full of nonverbal communication, at least if you do it consciously. One reason people sink so much money into cars (hands down the worst investment you're making) is to keep their image consistent with the rest of their driving style.
But Mazda has done this before. The first-generation Miata had a cheeky smile. Now that I think of it, the happiest pop music in my collection is also Japanese. The genre is called Shibuya-kei, and its atmosphere reflects the optimism and energy of post-WWII growth.
Maybe the reason there are so few happy-looking cars, and so little happy music, is the myth that happy people are stupid. Walk around at work smiling and someone may hand you an extra task. Drive a seething red mask and maybe people won't cut you off. Good luck with that.
(*)Pop music: Remember grunge? Emo? Punk? Now try to think of a happy pop song. If you can (OK: the Pelican West album by Haircut 100), then try to think of a happy pop genre. BZZT, time's up.
I think you should buy this happy car in a bright orange. Then you can look like a Jack-O-Lantern.
ReplyDeleteI think my car presents an indifferent face to the world, kind of matching my attitude towards cars. Unless I ever felt flush enough to go luxury (which I doubt I ever would when I know unemployed people who could use my extra cash in that case), then it doesn't much matter what my car looks like (ok, not one of those ugly Gen-Y boxes), as long as it gets me there.
That's a peculiar angle to look at a car from. Maybe it's not so gleeful in person.
ReplyDeleteI tend to own cars that drive well but look like crap. I almost regard the cosmetics as a liability - the better my car looks, the more likely it'll get broken into. Especially where I work.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a few of the new 3's in person, and it's true that if you're standing near it looking down at the front end, it's not as bad as the photos. The original Miata also looked smilier when it came over a hill towards you.
My personal tastes run to vehicle designs which (I feel) do the best job of balancing form and function. That is, the utilitarian aspects are not overly compromised for the sake of executing unusual designs, and the design elements are not undervalued in an obsessive push to over-optimize functionality.
ReplyDeleteSome people seem to feel that a total disregard for aesthetics is the epitome of practicality, as if function is all that matters and form lies in the realm of useless luxury. Others place so much importance on aesthetics that they seem to prefer designs which make function almost completely subservient to form. Some designs seem conceived to push the absolute limits of non-functionality.
I feel the same way about vehicles that I feel about anything man-made that serves a useful purpose. It should be useful and beautiful in equal measure. Just to make things more complicated, there is beauty in usefulness, and usefulness in beauty. A thing can be beautiful in the way it so simply and efficiently meets a need, and a thing can be useful just because it is beautiful in a seemingly effortless way.
What I want, more than anything, is balance.