The hybrid electric vehicle as a cultural object

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

9 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

09/23/2009

Category :

Science & technology

Sub category :

Electronics

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Summary :

Introduction
The first try: A brief history of the electric car
1. Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate
The HEV: Close enough
1. The birth of new technology
The rise of the hybrid: Green marketing
1. The commercial viability of lower-emission vehicles
2. Green washing
3. The advertizing tactics
Compromising ideals
1. Commodity Lesbianism
2. Acceptance of a middle ground
Symbolic meanings
1. Toyota Prius' edge
2. The Honda versions
Conspicuous consumption
1. Saleable hybrids
2. Chasin and Clark's views
The environmental aesthetic
1. The Substance of Style
2. The aesthetic rift between the Prius and Honda HEVs
The HEV as a cultural object
Bibliography

Abstract

The American public imagination is steeped in images of cars. Long ago, the car took over for the horse as the best romantic vehicle to ride off into the sunset. Pop culture throughout the existence of the car is riddled with references to it. Just as Ford's assembly line was developed, Charlie Chaplin was there to lampoon it in the 1936 film Modern Times [Wollen and Kerr, 2002]. In the fifties, the car was a symbol of a post-depression, post-war need for carefree freedom: characters like Fonzie in Happy Days showed that the cool guys, the ones who got the girls, always had the best cars. In 1965, Roger Miller wrote King of the Road, a song about a man who felt like a king despite his hand-to-mouth existence because he had a car, and that made him free. The song made number one on the Billboard charts.

Even when cars went wrong, they were a vehicle for rugged, rebellious adventurism, for striking out on one's own: James Dean's death, caused by crashing his Porsche 555 Spyder into another car, served as a fittingly romantic end to his short life as a symbol of youthful rebellion in the pop culture world [Wollen and Kerr 2002.]