Essay on cars in popular culture

1. Cars in Popular Culture and how they are represented in mass media in the 21st century
By Tegan Arthur11/11/2020
Introduction
Cars have beenusedinmanymediaproductionssuchasfilms,musicvideosandvideogamesand
have evolvedovertime onhowthey are represented,fromthe firstvideogame grantrank10 in
1974 to the famous fastand furiousmovie in2001 that’sstill goingthisveryyear.Butthere are
manyreasonswhycars are representedinmovies,videos,andgames,one beingthe setting.
“The settingisthe ultimate reasonwhyHollywoodcreativeswillmake achoice inwhichcars can or
can’t be usedfor a particularmovie.Whenamovie issetmattersa lot” (Steele,B,2020)
As mediaandtechnologyhave developedthroughoutthe yearssohave the wayfilms,videosand
gamespresentcars in massmedia. Howeverwithinthisessay Iamgoingto explore the wayitfirst
startedwithrepresentingcarsthrough mediaandthe reasonon whycars are represented.Todo
thisisto go intothe historyand the true reasonsonhow cars have beenrepresentedthroughout the
yearsand howtheychoose the cars that theyuse to do infilmsandif graphicsis a reasonbehindit.
However,carsoverthe years have beenseenasa needof transportand soto see a car like
bumblebeeintransformers withthe graphics;itmakesthe audience have the desire togetthatcar
because itisseenas a cool car.
History of graphics
Graphicsis usedinmanyways today,howevergraphicsfirstusedfor visual communicationwas in
cave men timesthroughdrawingoncaves to symbols.Butgraphicdesigndidn’tstartbecominga
huge thinguntil 1440 “after the inventionof the printingpressin1440” (Ellis,M.2018) when
printingindustriescreatedtheirfirstlogos.Theninthe 1620s printingindustriescreatedtheirfirst
printingadvertisement andasprintingindustrieswere alwaystheywere eventual able tobring
colourto theirproductsin1837. Everydaycompanieswhere competingagainstotherstobe better
ingraphic designsothey couldbe successful.
Howeverby1903 the firstgraphicdesignagency emergedthiswas“Austria’sWienerWerkstätte,an
organizationwhomade contributionstodesignstyle andbusinessalike”(Ellis,M.2018). Thiswas
the firstorganisationof visual artists,thisshowedthatgraphicswasbecomingabiggerthingas it
was usedformostthingsaroundthat time.Thenby1922 the wordgraphic designwasusedforthe
firsttime bya bookdesigner“WilliamAddisonDwigginshe firstusedthe term“graphicdesign”to
describe exactlywhathisrole wasinstructuringandmanagingthe visualsinbookdesign”(Ellis,M.
2018).
Furthermore,from1950 the worldstartedto go intothe digital era and duringthistime technology
startedto improve aswell.Thenin1990 adobe Photoshop wasreleasedandfromthenongraphics
has beenimprovingeachdayjustthe same as technology.The onlyquestionthatstill remainsis
whatis graphicsand technologygoingto be like inthe future andhow will ithelporeffect the world
we live intoday.

2. History of cars in films
The well knownfilmthatusedcarswas the JamesBond like filmthe Goldenfingerin1964 withthe
AstonMartin DB5. This car had many gadgetsinthe filmsuchas “ ram bumper,machine guns,
ejectorseat,smoke screen,oil-slicksprayer,andmore" (Mikhail Gomes.2019),thisrepresentedthe
car to showthat itwas a luxuryandveryreliable carandwas usedforsomeone like JamesBond.
Thishelpedthe companyAstonMartingrow because of the wayit waspresentedtoviewersfrom
the filmGoldenfinger. Itwasseenas a powerful carand “leftcar enthusiastsandcar collectorsin
pure awe”(Mikhail Gomes.2019).Thiswas onlythe beginningforcarsusedin films because from
nowon graphicsstarts to effectthe wayincars are represented.
As cars and filmsimprove sodoesthe technologyandthe graphics.Soin2001 the fast and furious
was a bighit andthe cars withinthe filmplayedahuge role as well asthe characters.The car 1970
Dodge Charge and the Toyota Suprawere seenascars that everyone wantedmainlybecause they
were fastbut alsohad modification. Thishelpedboththe carcompaniesprogressandbecome
betterbutalsohelpedthe filmseriesbecome asbigasit istoday.The cars were seenaspowerful,
strongand recklesswhichalsorepresentedasimilarmoodtowhat the charactersin the filmgave
off.But these carswere seenasa bigdeal forcar enthusiastaswell asthe restof the fastand furious
cars. Thisis because the movie wassosuccessful thatnotjustfilmswere made butgamesandtoys
were made fromthe car film.Furthermore,the graphicsthatwasusedon the Toyotasupra was to
showthe kindof characterPaul Walkerplayedwhich wasa recklesscopthat lovedhisJapanese cars.
As a fewyearspastanotherbigfilmthat involved carswasthe animatedfilmCarsin2006. Thisfilm
was a bighit andwas purelybasedaroundcars. This filmwasaimedatkidsand the purpose of this
filmwasto show“mentorship,movingthroughdifferentphasesof life,andself-reflectionare the
mostprominentthemesinthe film”(Hypable.2017). Howeverthisfilmdidn’tjustinfluencekids,it
influencedmany people of differentagesfromkidstoadultsbecause there were keylessonsthat
were withinthe film. Thisfilmalsoencouragedkidstohave apassionforcars and somany kids
wantedtohave a fastcar like lightning McQueenorbecome aracer.
Howeverascars andgraphicsimprovedanotherbigcar filmcame aroundin2007 knownas
Transformers.However“transformersdynastyhasbeenaroundfordecadesinthe formof comics”
(Mikhail Gomes.2019).Butwhenthe transformersmovie came toscreeneveryteenagersdreamcar
was to have a brightyellowcamarowithracerstripesjustlike bumblebee.Furthermorethe
company Chevy usedthe transformersmovie “asaway of teasingthe nextbreedof Camaros,
makingthisone a conceptcar at its time.”(Mikhail Gomes.2019).Thisfilmhelpedboostthe car
company’sreputationaswell asthe filmandthe filmseriesisstillcarryingonto thisveryday.
History of cars in video games
In 1974 the firstmotorsportvideogame came outit wascalledgran trak 10, thisvideogame gave
the playersa real feel of whatitwouldbe like todrive a car thiswas because “inthe single-player
arcade game,playersusedasteeringwheel,three-speedgearlever(plusreverse),brake and
acceleratorpedalstoguide theircararound a course againstthe clock.” (Will,Dron.2014). This
game became a big hitin1974 and fromthenon, car videogamesgrew andbecame betteras the
yearswentby.

3. In 1994 the firstneedforspeedvideo game came out,thisgame isverypopularforcar enthusiasts
but fromthe years1994 to 2002, there wasn’treallymuchdifferentthroughoutthe graphicsof each
game it onlychangedslightly.Howeverfrom2002 to this veryday u can see so muchdifference
betweeneachgame thisisbecause technologywasbeingimprovedconstantlyandthe carsand
designswhere gettingfocusedonmore andmore as theywere the keypartto thisgame. But within
the videoyoucouldsee how the settingandthe cars changedoverthe yearsand the cars usedwere
popularsportycars like the Porsche andNissanGTR.
Thisgame buildthe reputationof carcompaniesfromthe cars that were usedwithinthe game but
alsothe game became a filmandwasa bighitlike fastandfuriousandtransformers.The game was
made ina waythat was enjoyableforeveryone butwaseverythingcarenthusiastswouldlove.
Howevertothisveryday the game keepsimprovingeveryyearandisstill anenjoyable game toplay.
History of cars in music videos
The earliest music video to include a car was the doors- Queen of the highway in 1970. In
this music video it featured the ford mustang, this music video help promote the ford
mustang and helped fords reputation. This is because it was seen as a car to have if a
famous singer is driving a ford mustang.
After a couple of years cars started to become more common in music videos and are still
used to this day. This is because cars represented power this is shown in Calvin Harris – we’ll
be coming back featuring the Porsche 911 T and Ferrari 512 BB. But in this particular video
these cars were used mainly just “to look cool” (JamesRoberts.2017). Howevercars playquite
an importantrole withinmusicvideosastheyalsorepresentthe type of personthe singersare
withinthatsettingnmusicvideo.
Conclusion
Overall lookingatwhati have discussedwithinthisessayitshowsthatcars playa massive role in
mass media. Theyare usedtorepresentthe type of characterin a film, tolookpowerful andcool in
musicvideosandto be lovedandbe passionate aboutinvideogames.If carsweren’tusedinmass
mediai don’tthinkcar companieswouldhave gotwhere theyare today,butalsoi don’tthinkthat
films,musicvideosandvideogameswouldhave got the audiencewithoutinvolvingthe cars.
In additionIthinkthatovertime and ina few yearsto come,movieswill includemore carsas itspart
of the newgenerationof technology.Butalsoi thinkthe wayinwhichfilms;gamesandvideoswill
be more advancedastechnologykeepsimprovingeveryday.
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