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WebLinks: Contexts for Exploring Visual and Verbal Texts |
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Chapter 7 - Exploring Design |
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Why are cars so important to American society? What does the design of a car say about the person who drives it? How has the auto industry evolved? The sites below give you an opportunity to answer these questions and explore America's car culture in more depth.
http://www.colby.edu/personal/z/zssager/intro.html
It's true—the automobile changed the American way of life. It has affected our lives and probably our personalities in ways we can only guess at. But our needs and obsessions have also affected the auto industry, as it has constantly redesigned its products in an effort to make money by pleasing us. This Web site provides an introduction to automobile history from its origins through the 1960s, and photos of vintage cars to illustrate that history. Its subtopics include the auto industry during World War II, the demand in the 50s for sleeker, more powerful, more comfortable cars which shaped the future of the automobile, and the rise of the foreign car in the late 50s, which was linked intimately with Americans' need, on the one hand, for the smaller cars Detroit wasn't making, and for a ritzier status symbol on the other.
http://www.carbusters.org/
http://www.sfbg.com/39/33/news_ed_car.html
For every movement, there's bound to be a countermovement. America's love affair with automobiles, resulting as it does in a dependence on oil and causing tens of thousands of deaths each year, has provoked a lively (if not very visible) anti-car movement. The first URL links to Car Busters Magazine, an international online and print publication that promotes alternatives to the automobile. The second link is to an article on what one city is doing about its problem with cars and the pollution and traffic problems they create—the annual Bike to Work Day in San Francisco, California.
http://www.socalcarculture.com/
From cut and souped-up vintage sports cars to lowriding SUVs, the world of custom vehicles is visually dazzling. Some drivers of these pampered buggies take them out just for a Sunday spin, but for others, the world of cars is more than just a hobby. Events ranging from shows to races to conventions are staged around the country every day of the year (as a glance at this Web site reveals), and are a testament to America's passion for cars.
