More on Adolf Rosenberger and Porsche

Hi folks -- I have been working on translating a source that has added more information to my knowledge of Adolf Rosenberger and his relationship with Porsche. the source is a manuscript of a show that was on SWR2 in 2012. The Author was Eberhard Reuss and the editor was Rudolf Linssen.   The translation is mine and if there are mistakes in the translation those are mine as well.

The show begins with a visit to the Pforzheim City Museum and the viewing of a trophy from the Klaussenrennen hill climb of 1927. the discussion then shifts to the hushed up nature of the Adolf Rosenberger and its embarrassing nature with regards to Porsche.

The show also refers to a Rosenberger interview on ZDF "Bilanz" in 1966. I do not know how to get this source! It states how important the design project of the Zundapp-Werke peoples car was to the eventual design of the Volkswagen.

It is stated that the initial capitalization of the Porsche Design Firm in 1931 was 30,000 RM, with Ferdinand Porsche contributing 24,000RM, Son-in-law Anton Piech 3,000RM and Adolf Rosenberger 3,000RM.

Also, Particularly with regards to what would become the Audi Silver Arrows, Rosenberger and significant influence, not only is setting up the project but also in a design where the engine was behind the river. Rosenberger had driven the 1923 "Benz Tropfenwagen" a design precursor to the Auto Union race car.

With the rise of the Nazis to power in early 1933 Rosenberger handed over his front man job at Porsche to Baron Veyder-Malberg. He never was refunded his investment before he left for the U.S., and his 3,000RM was worth 100,000 RM by 1935.

In 1935 Roenberger retruned to Germany from Switzerland, and on September 5, 1935 he was placed in concentration Camp KZ Kislau for a racial crime, namely a relationship with an "arischen"woman. He would be released 4 days later after paying a 53+ RM fine. It wassail that Ferry Porsche and Anton Piech had supported Rosenberger in his release, but Rosenberger later maintained that it was not them, but Veyder-Malberg.
Sources here to follow up on include materials at the Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe and the Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg.

KZ Kislau, a camp for those from North Baden

As a Jew Rosenberger had no legal recourse in 1935 He left for Paris,knowing that his partners at Porsche let him fall like a "raw egg." So this SWR 2 source argues.

More coming! 

Juvenile Delinquency during the 1950s and early 1960s: the Film "Moment of Decision"

The dangers that surround the young are more societal and institutional than personal. As a whole, these films suggest that delinquency resulted from two interwoven problems. The first was the failure of schools, court system, and community to provide sufficient opportunities for constructive endeavors. The second was the consequence of temptations society presented children and the inability of overworked or self-interested parents to tend to their children’s development. “Both your parents have seemed to work as long as you can remember,” the voice over informed us as Bill was thinking in Moment of Decision. “Even so there has never been enough money for the things you wanted.” As a fast jazz score conveys the excitement the boys feel, we are left to see the virtually unmanageable psychological dilemma faced by the still-immature youth in our society characterized by consumer gratification. The private need for collective approval symbolized by the peer pressure of the other boys, but also the desire to appear cool and in control to onlookers while driving in public behind the wheel of a fancy convertible, pressured the boys to do what they know to be wrong. In this film and others, the failures of adult society was manifested in the owner’s irresponsible action of leaving the keys in the ignition. Only Bill, whose father has taken the time to teach him the virtues of hard work and benefits of responsibility, was able to resist the temptation. 

Juvenile Delinquents and Auto Theft: The Fiction of Theodore Weesner and the 1972 novel "The Car Thief"

Perhaps the most realistic portrayal of this form of juvenile delinquency appeared in literature rather than film. Theodore Weesner’s 1972 novel The Car Thief (chapters of which were published as early as 1967) served as a dark and rather disturbing representation of the subject in the period.²⁵ Weesner’s central character is Alex Housman, a 16 year old high school student living in Detroit. Alex is white, sensitive, and of above-average intelligence, the product of a working class broken home, lives with an alcoholic father on Chevrolet Avenue, yearns for fellowship with a brother he is separated from, and desires love from school girls he fears. As the novel opens on a day in late October with streets clogged with slushy snow, Alex is about to steal a 1959 Buick Riviera, “Its upholstery was black, its windshield was tinted a thin color of motor oil.” The Buick was also his fourteenth stolen car. And contrary to notions of the joy rider as experiencing exhilaration, Alex is filled with fear while driving the car.

the tediousness of driving did not go away. The pressure kept growing until he felt it in his jaws, and he began losing his strength of grip on the steering wheel. His stomach was drawing tighter. It was a pressure, an anguish, which had over taken him before, but he did not think of that, nor very clearly of anything. He closed his eyes against the feeling and opened them. His jaws felt chilled. He removed his foot from the accelerator, and as the sensation was seizing him, he slammed his palms against the steering wheel, jarring it, as if a violent striking there might cancel an explosion elsewhere.²⁶

            Alex takes his cars on rides in the country outside of Detroit, hoping he can catch a glimpse of the brother he is separated from in front of a tavern in which the latter now lives with his mother and stepfather. Alternatively, Alex has a desire to lure young girls who attend “country” high schools into taking a ride with him. And it is Eugenia Rodgers’ coat left in his stolen 1959 Buick that ultimately leads to his arrest at the end of a school day, and the beginning of a rather horrific set of consequences that first sends him to juvenile detention, then back to his high school where he is branded as a no-good. Ostracism and a beating follow. Teachers and fellow students are often brutal and rarely understanding or forgiving. As the story winds down, Alex’s father, worn out by chronic alcoholism and life in general, commits suicide. Clearly, auto thievery has resulted in nothing but pain and grief, and none of the supposed thrills experienced by the middle class joy rider as depicted in sociological studies. Alex shares none of the other of the characteristics of the youthful auto thief of his generation. Weesner’s book suggests that in the real world of a blue collar kid, there is little to celebrate from disregarding the law, and much to fear.

Automobile History: An Interview on China Radio International, January 29, 2015

Hi folks: the link that follows is my CRI interview that was aired today, January 29, 2015.

http://english.cri.cn/7146/2015/01/29/3621s864033.htm


 Here were the talking points:

1.      January 29^th, 1886 is usually regarded as the birthday of car, and the German engine designer Karl Benz is regarded by many as the “Father of Automobile”. Looking at that period of time, would you say the appearance of automobile was something inevitable or something very accidental?

2.      Concerning the early history of automobiles, there is a cliché in the west that “the automobile is European by birth, American by adoption”. Why do you think America was able to quickly catch up and overtake Europe in the early stages of the auto industry?

3.      The word “automobile” is basically an American term. It was first used in America in 1895 and fully adopted in the US in 1899. Why do you think the history of the US chose “automobile” instead of other words? What are some of the interesting stories behind the adoption of this word?

4.      Regarding to the history of the US auto industry, anyone with a little common sense can think of many labels: Henry Ford and mass production, the General Motors and its long-time CEO Alfred Sloan, the rise and decline of Detroit, and so on. But what is usually neglected by people when they talk about the history of auto industry?

5.      In China, it was not until the 90s and the beginning of the 21^st century that private cars came into the lives of the ordinary citizens. In history, did the US have a similar transition in terms of car users?

6.      I read the introduction part of your book “The Automobile and American Life” where you said the work you have done through this book is sort of like your “auto-biography”. Tell us how, over the years, your perception of automobile has evolved.

7.      In the introduction of the book, you also argue that the automobile and its related infrastructure transformed everyday life as well as our basic values. I have no difficulty in understanding “transforming everyday life”, but could you elaborate a little bit more on “transforming our basic values”?

8.      If you were to put your fingers on five major influences the auto industry has made upon the human society, either positive or negative, what are they?

9.      In the course of the 20^th century, many technological products have come and go. People fell in love with them and then dump them. But automobiles have survived and remain as popular today. What are some of the most important factors behind its survival?

10.  When there are so many cars on roads, management of these cars inevitably becomes a problem, notably with regard to traffic jam and parking space. What would be your advice on how to address the dilemma between producing more cars and less congestion on roads?

11.  From a historian’s perspective, what is the direction in which today’s auto industry is going?

Mercedes-Benz 540 K Streamliner (W 29, 1938)

 Back to the future – ahead of its time: Mercedes-Benz 540 K Streamliner (W 29), 1938. Built as a one-off model in the special vehicle production unit of the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant. Following its restoration and reconstruction to the original condition, the car is brought back into the public eye by Mercedes-Benz Classic in mid-2014. The measurement in the wind tunnel in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim in May 2014 delivers a sensational drag coefficient of Cd = 0.36

Mercedes-Benz 540 K Streamliner (W 29, 1938)

Built in 1938, the Mercedes-Benz 540 K Streamliner was the pinnacle of the aerodynamically optimised vehicles developed by Mercedes-Benz in the 1930s. Based on the Stuttgart-based brand's top sports car model, this unique vehicle set benchmarks both in technical and aesthetic terms. It allowed Mercedes-Benz to take the lead in a development that occupied the entire automobile industry at that time: the rapid pace of technical change and the growing network of fast roads enabling higher potential cruising speeds. Consequently, the aerodynamics of powerful passenger cars became increasingly important with regard to efficiency too. With its aluminium body's flowing lines and low silhouette, minimal sources of disturbance on its surface and underbody cladding, the Streamliner applied research findings in an exemplary way, giving it a sensationally low drag coefficient (Cd value) of 0.36. In 2014, Mercedes-Benz unveiled the vehicle to the public once more following lavish restoration.

Technical data for the Mercedes-Benz 540 K Streamliner (W 29) Cylinder arrangement: 8/in-line
Displacement: 5401 cc
Output: 85 kW (115 hp) or 132 kW (180 hp) with belt-driven supercharger
Top speed: 185 km/h

Automobile Theft and Juvenile Delinquency during the 1950s

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover reported to Motor Trend readers in 1952 that: “automobiles now are among the largest items on the nation’s ledger of annual losses due to theft.”¹² Indeed, between 1945 and 1952 more than a million vehicles were stolen. In 1951 alone, an estimated 196,960 cars worth more than $190 million were counted as taken. The 1950s were considered as the Golden Age of the automobile in America, and they were also golden years for auto thieves.

            In confronting the auto theft problem during the 1950s and 1960s, politicians and local law enforcement officials regarded the auto theft problem as largely a youth or juvenile delinquent problem.¹³ Organized crime or rings remained a very real threat to motor vehicle owners. However, it was a threat largely subsumed by concerns about the next generation, the future of American society, and the tendency of young people to defy authority and commit largely victimless crimes. The enlightened response toward young offenders that followed stressed reduced punishment, understanding young adult psychology and sociology, and above all education. The hard line stressing strong absolute values and harsh punishment was largely thrown out the window, at least in public pronouncements. Prevailing attitudes of the day suggested that criminal behavior was a social disease, the result of a breakdown of society and values, and that the youthful car thief was to be treated with compassion and understanding. To that end, a 1955 Senate report pointed to the high rates of imprisonment under the Dyer Act and argued that juveniles taking joy rides across state lines were never meant to be covered by that law. Rather it was seen that these youngsters had “misappropriated cars with no intent to steal.”¹⁴

            Compassion and understanding did little to arrest the meteoric rise of joy riding and juvenile delinquency. It was one more phenomena that added to the fears surrounding the early Cold War era. Then and now, government bureaucrats were fixated on statistics, regardless of whether they were helpful or misleading. And the statistics, despite their shortcomings, indicated a dangerous trend. For example, in 1948 young persons under the age of 17 were responsible for 17 percent of all car thefts, while four years later, in 1952, some 52 percent of auto thefts were committed by thieves under the age of 17. This disconcerting trend continued unabated until the mid-1950s. In 1956, of the 28,035 auto thieves who were arrested, some 39 percent were 15 or younger, 56 percent were 16 or younger, and 73 percent under the age of 18. And at the federal level, some 55.5 percent of all juvenile cases brought before the courts involved auto theft. Indeed, by the mid-1950s, teenagers were committing the majority of larcenies and burglaries, a statistic that did not augur well for a free and democratic United States engaged in a life and death struggle with global communism. Further analysis of auto thefts showed that this crime was overwhelmingly perpetrated by young males (the ratio of male to female was 120:1), and that the urban rate for such crimes was three to four times higher than offenses taking place in rural areas.¹⁵

            Sociologists William W. Wattenberg and James Balistrieri fleshed out the motives and class origins of these young criminals in an important study published in 1952. Their investigation of violators in Detroit was most disturbing to those involved in law enforcement, the courts, social work, and above all the parents of adolescents.¹⁶ By examining the arrest data of nearly 4,000 young people in Detroit in 1948, Wattenberg and Balistrieri concluded that the majority of auto thieves in this group came from above-average homes, had grown up in racially homogeneous areas, lived in an economically and sociologically stable home environment, and perhaps surprisingly, were on the whole better socially adjusted when compared to their peers. Why did they steal cars? As one New York City policeman would surmise a bit later in the decade, “for the sheer hell of it.”¹⁷ Wattenberg and Balistrieri concluded that the failure of community controls coupled with opportunity, amusement, and trifling punishment were at the heart of this major social problem.

            Another study from the period, however, that of Logan A. Hidy, demonstrated the complexities associated with any analysis of joy riding.¹⁸ As part of a survey of boys committed to the Boys’ Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio for the offense of auto theft, Hidy explored the motives of a group of 98 young men. While some 42 percent stated that they stole cars for fun, a surprising 48 percent claimed that they took a vehicle because they needed temporary transportation, understandably so, since half of that second cohort was runaways.¹⁹ As it turned out, almost all of the stolen vehicles were unlocked and open, and 80 percent had the key in the ignition lock. Only four of the 98 boys intended to keep the car they had taken, and only one wanted to sell the vehicle.

            While the Hidy study went largely unnoticed, the Wattenberg and Balistieri article became the starting point for many follow-up investigations conducted during the 1950s and 1960s. For example, between January 1952 and December 1954, Erwin Schepses conducted a careful study of 81 boys who had previously been involved in one or more car thefts and were committed to the New York State Training School for Boys in located in Warwick, New York. The group of younger boys, who had previously lived either in the New York City area or in rural Orange County, New York, were categorized in one of two groups: one cohort only stole cars; the other stole cars and also had committed other antisocial acts like larceny, assault, or crimes of a sexual nature. Motives for what was concluded to be mostly impulsive behavior included being influenced by the “Goddess of Speed,” inherent restlessness, or an “erotic element.” The latter motive was given an interesting twist in a 1960 study by Juvenile Court Judge Albert A. Woldman entitled “Juvenile Thefts and Juvenile Court.” He concluded that since “ ‘walking’ among young people has become a lost art,” auto theft was “almost exclusively a juvenile offense,” adding that “girls who require boys dating them to have cars are responsible for many thefts.”²⁰

            In particular, the group considered “pure,” namely those who only stole cars, was decidedly white rather than negro or Puerto Rican. They also had higher IQs and a slightly lower rate of recidivism. Additionally, and again confirming Wattenberg and Balistieri, the families of the pure car thieves were typically economically secure and stable.²¹

            While the Wattenberg and Balistieri study pointed a finger to the white middle class, late 1950s crime data on large northern cities suggested that most auto thefts were due to “The Problem of Negro Crime.” Yet it was not a widely discussed issue; a Chicago judge claimed in 1958 that the reason for the silence was due to a “conspiracy of concealment.” According to this view, the NAACP, along with politicians eager to garner the black vote conveniently ignored the facts. For example, in Chicago (15 percent African-American) twice as many blacks were arrested as whites; in Los Angeles (13 percent African-American) 48 percent of all arrests for major offenses (including auto theft) were negro; and in Detroit (25 percent African-American), 66 percent of all those held in the Wayne County jail were black. Los Angeles Chief of Police William Parker did not mince words about this matter as he stated that the “Negro Community” is “his No. 1 crime problem. ²² Furthermore, a widely-held assumption was that the underprivileged and minorities were more likely to become hardened criminals.

Course Syllabus: HST 485, Cars and Film

SEMINAR—HST 485P1 SPRING, 2015

The Automobile and Film

Class Meeting: Wednesday, 3:00-5:50 p.m.

HM 468

Instructors: Dr. John A. Heitmann, Dr. James Todd Uhlman

Office: Heitmann-HM 435, Uhlman-HM 448

Telephone:  Heitmann-x92803

E-mail: Jheitmann1@udayton.edu, juhlman1@udayton.edu

Office Hours:

Heitmann:  MW10-10:50 a.m., W 2-2:50 p.m., or by appointment

Uhlman:   TR 1:00-2:45 p.m., or by appointment

This Syllabus is Incomplete and will be Altered

Dr. Heitmann and Uhlman Reserve the Right to Change this Syllabus

It has been said that the automobile is the perfect technological symbol of American culture, a tangible expression of our quest to level space, time and class, and a reflection of our restless mobility, social and otherwise.  Film, a technology that emerged at the same time as the automobile, has today become the dominant medium of communication in the world.  In this seminar we will explore together the place of the automobile in film.  This story is most complex, demanding insights and expertise from a host of disciplines.  We have to understand the cultural and social history of the 20^th Century.  We also have to know the history of technology and business.  Both of these technologies have influenced the foods we eat; music we listen to; risks we take; places we visit; errands we run; emotions we feel; stress we endure; the air we breathe; and the stories we tell ourselves.

Required Texts:

John Heitmann, The Automobile and American Life (McFarland, 2009).

Heitmann’s  book The Automobile and American Life is our key common reading in this class and the touchstone for our discussions.  While you will not be tested on this reading, you will be responsible for reading this book and critically commenting on it in class.

The remaining readings will be in the form of PDF files located at the course’s Isidore website.  The readings can be found under the “Content Section” and under the button for each of the numbered weeks of the class.

           

Grades:

Leading Class Discussions                                    100 points

Discussion Participation                                         100 points

Annotated Bibliography                                          100 points

Draft #1 of Paper (due before April 8)                    100 points

Review of Classmates Paper                                   50 points

Film Review Essay                                                100 points 

Film History and Editing Quiz                                   50 points

Standard Symposium Presentation                        100 points

Final Paper                                                              300 points

Total                                                                        1000

In this class we will define the seminar as a shared learning experience in which one of its purposes is to create new knowledge. Therefore, the research paper is the most significant assignment of this course. It should critically explore an area of knowledge related to the automobile and American life, and ideally should be 10 to 15 pages double spaced in length, with additional footnotes and bibliography, and furthermore draw on minimally 15 sources, primary and secondary. We plan to meet with you individually and collectively during the semester to ensure that your topic has a proper focus and that sources are readily available for your project. A late paper will be penalized one-half letter grade per day.

Schedule of Assignments and Class Meetings

Week 1 — January 12

Topic:  Introduction:  The Advent of the 20^th Century and New Technologies of the Car and Film

Films:

“Horatio’s Drive”

Assignment:  Signup for Leading Class Discussion

Week 2 — January 21

Topic:  The Promise of Mobility in American History

Period:  1890s-2000s

Readings:

John Heitmann, The Automobile, Intro. and ch. 1-2.

Julian Smith, “A Runaway Match:  The Automobile in the American Film, 1900-1920” in Lewis, ed., The Automobile and American Culture

Kenneth Hey, “Cars and Films in American Culture, 1929-1959” in Lewis, ed., The Automobile and American Culture

James J. Flink, "Three Stages of American Automobile Consciousness," American Quarterly, 24 (October, 1972), 451-473.

Todd Uhlman, “Using Film to Understand the Past”

Films:

“Wild Wheels” (1992) [don’t need to watch all of this film if you don’t want]

“Henry Ford’s Mirror of America” (1915-1930)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50hrJ3Ebubc

“Roger and Me” (1989)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=48006fe71dfe45908d831c9dad6048f7

Week 3 — January 28

Topic:   The Silent Era

Period:  1910s-1920s

Readings:

John Heitmann, The Automobile, ch. 3-4

Jennifer Parchesky, “Women in the Driver’s Seat:  The Auto-Erotics of Early Women’s Films,” Film History, 18, no. 2, (2006): 174-184.

Melissa E. Weinbrenner, “Movies, Model Ts, and Morality:  The Impact of Technology on Standards of Behavior in the Early Twentieth Century,” The Journal of Popular Culture, 44, no. 3 (2011):  647-659.

Todd Uhlman, “A Short History of the Film Industry”

Films:

 “Mabel at the Wheel” (1914)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBH3Mj2wxaE

 “The Wife and Auto Trouble” (1916)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcuhNiou2D0

Assignment:  Term Paper Proposal is Due

Week 4 — February 4

Topic:  Mobility and the Great Depression

Period: 1930s-1940s

Readings:

John Heitmann, The Automobile, ch. 4, 6

David Laderman, Driving Vision:  Exploring the Road Movie

Ch. 1: “Paving the Way:  Sources and Features of the Road Movie”

Douglas Kellner, “Hollywood Film and Society,” in Hill and Gibson, eds., Oxford Guide to Film Studies.

Todd Uhlman, “Learning to Read Movies”

Films:

“It Happened One Night” (1934)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=d2f16cd6ce824b859724ddb69803cc82

“Grapes of Wrath” (1940) [not available through the UD service]

Assignment:  Library Research Tutorial

Week  5 — February 11

Topic:  The Reconversion Economy and Film Noir

Period: 1940s and 1950s

Readings:

John Heitmann, The Automobile, ch. 7

Paul Mason Fotsch, “Film Noir and Automotive Isolation in Los Angeles,” Cultural Studies and Critical Methodologies, 5, no. 1 (2005): 103-125.

Geraint Bryan, “Nowwhere to Run:  Pulp Noir on the Road,” in Jack Sergeant and Stephanie Watson, eds., Lost Highways:  Illustrated History of Road Movies.

Jack Sargeant and Stephanie Watson, “Looking for Maps:  Notes on the Road Movie as a Genre,” in Jack Sergeant and Stephanie Watson, eds., Lost Highways:  Illustrated History of Road Movies.

Films:

“They Drive by Night” (1940)

“Detour” (1945)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tap67KjjPu8

Assignment:  Film History and Editing Quiz

Week 6 — February 18

Topic: Chrome Dreams of the 1950s and the Tarnished Underside

Period: 1950s

Readings:

John Heitmann, The Automobile, ch. 8

David Laderman, Driving Vision:  Exploring the Road Movie

Ch. 2: “Blazing the Trail:  Visionary Rebellion and the Late-1960s Road Movie”:  pages 43-50.

Karal Ann Marling, "America's Love Affair with the Automobile in the Television Age," Design Quarterly, 46 (1989), 5-20.

Nicholas Ray, “Story into Script”, in J. David Slocum, ed., Rebel Without a Cause:  Approaches to a Maverick Masterwork

George M. Wilson, “Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause”, in J. David Slocum, ed., Rebel Without a Cause:  Approaches to a Maverick Masterwork

“Rebel Without a Cause-Primary Documents Set”

Films:

“Rebel Without a Cause” (1955)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=1ed58b6fe7cd4106be53c24fe80d13dd

“Thunder Road” (1958)

TBD

Week 7 — February 25

Topic:  Consensus and Counter Culture

Period: 1960s

Readings:

Cotton Seiler, "Statist means to Individualist Ends: Subjectivity, Automobility, and the Cold War State," American Studies, 44 (Fall, 2003), 5-36.

Mark Alvey, “Wanderlust and Wire Wheels:  The Existential search of Route 66,” in Cohen and Hark, eds., The Road Movie Book.

David Laderman, Driving Vision:  Exploring the Road Movie

Ch. 2: “Blazing the Trail:  Visionary Rebellion and the Late-1960s Road Movie”: pages 50-81.

Katie Mills, The Road Story and the Rebel:  Moving Through, Film, Fiction & TV

            Ch. 3:  “TV Gets Hip on Route 66”

            Ch. 4:  “Kesey’s Quixotic Acid Road Film”

Films:

“Magic Trip” (2011)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=23be4ba6373940fe9dcfb877f7ccf934

Episode from “Route 66”:  “Goodnight Sweet Blues”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW7F6bKk4b4

Week 8 — March 4

Topic:  Chase Movies and the Racing of Automobility

Period:  1900-2000

Readings:

John Heitmann, The Automobile, ch. 9

Donald W. McCaffey, “The Evolution of the Chase in Silent Screen Comedy,” Journal of the Society of Cinematologists, 4 (1964-65): 1-8.

Jeremy Packer, Mobility Without Mayhem: Safety, Cars, and Citizenship

            Ch. 5:  “Of Cadillacs and ‘Coon Cages’:  The Racing of Automobility”

Thomas J. Sugrue, “Driving While Black: The Car and Race Relations in Modern America”

Cotton Seiler, “‘So That We as a Race Might Have Something Authentic to Travel By,’ African American Automobility and Cold-War Liberalism,” American Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 4 (Dec. 2006).

Todd Uhlman and John Heitmann, " Stealing Freedom:  Auto-Theft and the Rebellious Revitalization of the Masculine American Self in Visual Culture" Journal of Popular Culture, forthcoming.

Films:

“Bullitt” (1968)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=7b8d7147fc9e49e1bc54bb6576204e91

“New Jersey Drive” (1995)

TBD

Week 9 — March 11

Topic:  Special Emeriti Lecture Visit—Biker Films

Period:  1960s-1970s

Readings:

Katie Mills, The Road Story and the Rebel: Moving Through, Film, Fiction &  TV

            Ch. 5:  “Road Film Rising:  Hells Angels, Merry Pranksters, and Easy Rider”

Carmen Indurain Eraso, “Thelma and Louise: ‘Easy Rider’ in a Male Genre,” Atlantis, 23, no. 1 (2001): 63-73.

Jim Morton, “Rebels of the Road:  The Biker Film,” in Jack Sergeant and Stephanie Watson, eds., Lost Highways:  Illustrated History of Road Movies.

Alistair Daniel, “Get Your Kicks:  ‘Easy Rider’ and the Counter-Culture,” in Jack Sergeant and Stephanie Watson, eds., Lost Highways:  Illustrated History of Road Movies.

Barbara Klinger, “The Road to Dystopia:  Landscaping the Nation in Easy Rider,” in Cohen and Hark, eds., The Road Movie Book.

Films:

“Easy Rider” (1969)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=9c2f9a23105143ab80e8a1fbb728259f

“Vanishing Point” (1997)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ishw7Bk03qw

Assignment:  The Completion of a Working Bibliography of no less than 15 Sources, 5 of which are articles.

Week 10 — March 18

Topic:  Nostalgia and the Existential Highway of the 1970s

Period:  1970s

Readings:

David Laderman, Driving Vision:  Exploring the Road Movie

Ch. 3: “Drifting on Empty:  Existential Irony and the Early-1970s Road Movie.”

David R. Shumway, “Rock’n’Roll Sound Tracks and the Production of Nostalgia,” Cinema Journal, 38, no. 2 (Winter 1999): 36-51.

Jack DeWitt, “Cars and Culture:  Song of the Open Road,’” The American Poetry Review, 39, no. 2 (March.-April. 2010): 38-40.

Jack DeWitt, “Cars and Culture:  The Cars of ‘American Graffiti,’” The American Poetry Review, 39, no. 5 (Sept.-Oct. 2010): 47-50.

Andreas Killen, 1973 Nervous Breakdown:  Watergate, Warhol, and the Birth of Post-Sixties America, “Reinventing the Fifties”: 163-194.

Adam Webb, “No Beginning.  No End.  No Speed Limit:  ‘Two-Lane Blacktop’”, in Jack Sergeant and Stephanie Watson, eds., Lost Highways:  Illustrated History of Road Movies.

Jack Sargeant, “‘Vanishing Point’: Speed Kills”, in Jack Sergeant and Stephanie Watson, eds., Lost Highways:  Illustrated History of Road Movies.

Films:

“Vanishing Point.” (1971)

“American Graffiti” (1973)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=f8ac450ad1c84ee4adf830b10c3abb29

“Badlands” (1973)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=1acdbdff74a142b39bdce52100cb952e     

Week 11 — March 25

Topic:  Steel Cowboys and the Apocalyptic Highway

Period: 1970s-1980s

Readings:

John Heitmann, The Automobile, ch. 10

David Laderman, Driving Vision:  Exploring the Road Movie

Ch. 4: “Blurring the Boundaries:  The 1980s Postmodern Road Movie.”

Todd Uhlman, “Delivering Manhood” [draft of article]

“The Trucker Craze-Primary Documents Set”

Jim Morton, “Road Kill:  Horror on the Highway,” in Jack Sergeant and Stephanie Watson, eds., Lost Highways:  Illustrated History of Road Movies.

Jack Sergeant, “Killer Couples:  From Nebraska to Route 666,” in Jack Sergeant and Stephanie Watson, eds., Lost Highways:  Illustrated History of Road Movies.

Films:

“Smokey and the Bandit” (1977)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=697f5b50357c436a86592309385e1132

“Death Race 2000” (1977)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO-YkaXGtLM

Assignment:  Draft #1 of Paper is Due

Exchange of papers with Classmates—review will be due next week

Week 12 — April 1 (Guest Instructor)

Topic:  The Feminist Road

Period: 1980s-1990s

Readings:

John Heitmann, The Automobile, ch. 5

Harvey R. Greenberg, Carol J. Clover, et al., “The Many Faces of ‘Thelma and Louise,’” Film Quarterly 45, no. 2 (Winter 1991-1992): 20-31.

“Thelma and Louise and the Cultural Generation of the New Butch-Femme,” in Jim Collins, et al, Film Theory Goes to the Movies (1991), 129-141.

Jim Healey, “’All This for Us’: The Songs in Thelma & Louise,” The Journal of Popular Culture, ???: 103-119.

Aspasia Kotsopoulos, “Gendering Expectations:  Genre and Allegory,” in Left History [Readings of Thelma and Louise] 8 (2003):  10-33.

Films:

“Thelma and Louise” (1991)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=10df8ffe317d455ba281fe6965eea6da  

“Natural Born Killers” (1994)

Assignment:  Return of Reviewed Papers

Week 13 —  April 8

Topic:  The Post-Modern Road to Uncertainty

Period: 1990s-2000s

Readings:

David Laderman, Driving Vision:  Exploring the Road Movie

Ch. 5: “Rebuilding the Engine:  The 1990s Multicultural Road Movie.”

Katie Mills, The Road Story and the Rebel:  Moving Through, Film, Fiction & TV

            Ch. 9:  “First-Person Players:  The Digital, ‘Tranmedia’ Road Story”

Jeremy Packer, Mobility Without Mayhem: Safety, Cars, and Citizenship

            Ch. 6:  “Raging with a Machine:  Neoliberalism Meet the Automobile”

“Debating Crash-Primary Document Set”

Rae Hark, “Fear of Flying:  Yuppie Critique and the Buddy-Road Movie in the 1980s,” in Cohen and Hark, eds., The Road Movie Book.

Films:

“Crash” (1996)

“Crash” (2004)

http://dc.swankmp.net/dayton/sdc/watch.aspx?v=281e3db159d54ad6be693c53c22248ec

Week 14 —  April 15

NO CLASS:  STANDER SYMPOSIUM

Assignment:  Presentations at the Symposium

           

Week 15 — April  22

Topic:  NASCAR Culture and The Fast and Furious

Period:  2000-2014

Readings

Lawrence W. Hugenberg and Barbara S. Hugenberg, “It it Ain’t rubbin’, It Ain’t Racing:  NASCAR, American Values, and Fandom,” The Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 41, no. 4, 2008.

M. Graham Spann, “NASCAR Racing Fans:  Cranking Up an Empirical Approach,” The Journal of Popular Culture, ???, 2003

Don Cusic, “NASCAR and Country Music, Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 21, no. 1 (October 1998).

Films: “Initial D.” -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CgIoKk2yI4

“Talladega Nights:  The Ballads of Ricky Bobby” (2006)

Assignment:  Final Papers are Due