Wednesday 28 December 2011

How Pixar Screwed Up Cartoon Cars For A Generation Of Kids

image credit

The eyes of anthropomorphized cars are the headlights, not the windshield.
And there's no exceptions here. Having a cartoon car with the eyes in the windshield is wrong, just wrong. And that includes you, too, Pixar.

You've ruined the concept of anthropomorphism in cars for a generation of children. Can they recover? Maybe. But it would take nothing short of a remake of Cars and Cars II to even begin to undo the damage.

3 comment(s):

Gareth said...

I always thought Cars was weird for this reason, but I wouldn't get so wound up about it as the author. It's not like it's unique, the likes of the truly awful Finley the Fire Engine do exactly the same thing.

I suspect that the problem is rooted in the fact that most modern cars do not have apparent faces in the way way that older cars do. When modern manufacturers try to do it they fail. Look at the BMW Mini, the grille, lights and chrome "bumper" are clearly just styling laid onto a smooth modern car. Then look at a real Mini, the grille, lights and bumper are parts of the car's shape.

Stelle Courney said...

Hmm, since the windshield is the driver's window to the road, the producer of Cars probably thought that the cars' eyes should be put there. Also, kids won't easily see their eyes if these were put on the headlights. It's a hard score to settle in terms of creativity and reality.

Carson Wininger said...

I've watched the sequel (Cars 2), and I must say, it's impressive how the countless vehicles in the movie have different looks and attributes, and didn't fall to only one design. Well, let's wait and see can deliver the same in their third installment.