Description
Book SynopsisEcomobilities examines the ideological connections between automobiles, the environment, and the end of the world, focusing on the car's inseparability from modern life. Through popular films addressing both mobilities and environmental disasters, Ecomobilities reveals how American automobility has influenced responses to warming temperatures and shifting ecosystems.
Trade ReviewMichael W. Pesses uses critical theory and a variety of films—from The Matrix to Mad Max to Pee Wee’s Big Adventure—to help readers make sense of the impenetrable fog created by our ideology surrounding car-dependency. This book is a valuable read for anyone seeking a joyful yet critical look at contemporary American car culture and our challenged response to climate change.
-- Steven M. Graves, California State University, Northridge
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Driving the Anthropocene
Chapter 1: Method
Chapter 2: “So Shiny So Chrome”: Images and Ideology of Humans, Machines, and the Earth
in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road
Chapter 3: Machines Precede the Climate: The Technological Fix
Chapter 4: Zombies and the Horror of Not Having a Car: Apocalyptic Stories as
Ecomobilities
Chapter 5: “I Hope You Have a Big Trunk ‘Cause I’m Putting My Bike in It”: Alternative
Transportation as a Reinforcement of Capitalism
