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More on Carless in Hollywood

The comments section on Slate yields a number of further examples, including this one:

As long as you’re talking about movies that denigrate bicyclists, you should mention the ’90’s film “In and Out” in which Kevin Kline plays a guy who everyone knows is gay except himself. It’s generally quite a funny and genial movie, but they do make a point of showing him as the only bicyclist in town, which seems a way of saying that his bicycling is yet one more piece of evidence (like his love of Bette Midler and somewhat flamboyant hand gestures) that “proves” he really is gay. Even though he appears to live in a small town where bicycling would be a perfectly reasonable way of getting around.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 2nd, 2010 at 8:42 am and is filed under Etc.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “More on Carless in Hollywood”

  1. Abhishek Says:
    August 3rd, 2010 at 8:05 am

    Sean Connery in Finding Forrester also rode a bike. It’s been a while since I have seen that movie but I remember the last scene where he takes off on a bicycle complete with hand signals.

  2. Kevin Love Says:
    August 3rd, 2010 at 10:39 am

    If we expand beyond film to television, I can think of several positive examples of carlessness.

    1. Sex and the City. This is a film now, so also counts as film. None of the characters drives a car. The closest is “Mr. Big,” who is driven by a chauffeur in an enormous limo. This is not a positive thing, but appears to be symbolic of his decadent, ostentatious lifestyle.

    2. 30 Rock. All of the characters are car-free with one exception. Like “Mr. Big,” Tracey is chauffeured in an enormous limo. This is also shown as an example of his wasteful lifestyle. The nicest character, Kenneth, is a bicycle commuter.

    3. The Cosby Show. Dr. Heathcliffe Huxtable (played by Bill Cosby)and his wife are car-free. They are shown as living in a house with no garage, no driveway and no possibility of owning a car. Exterior scenes show that the family lives in a car-free neighbourhood. For example, in the episode when Rudy is learning to ride a bicycle, the lengthy outdoors scenes show the neighbourhood as completely car-free.

    4. Mad About You. The show is about a young married couple, Paul and Jamie, who are car-free. They have a bicycle in their apartment, and frequently use the subway.

    5. Friends. My memory is getting a little fuzzy here. Are all the characters car-free?

    6. Dharma and Greg. Dharma and her parents are car-free.

    7. The Vicar of Dibley. The Vicar and most of her congregation are car-free.

    8. Keeping Up Appearances. Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) does not drive, although her long-suffering husband does. Most of the neighbours, including the Vicar and his wife, are car-free.

  3. Kent Says:
    August 15th, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    Step Brothers, the comedy with Will Farrel and John C Reilly, shows the unemployed loser duo exclusively being chauffeured, walking or riding bikes.

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