Before watching [Bumblebee] , I never thought that one day I would be so adored by the "Transformers" series that I wanted to roll on the spot in the theater. Where is this bumblebee a "bumblebee", it is obviously a "little yellow man"!
This cute cyber-cute pet who can sell cute and can do the enemy has contributed magical skills such as touching his head, shaking his feet, and grasping claws.
With such cute characters, it finally uses the original animation settings——
No longer the Chevrolet Camaro from Michael Bay's "Transformers" franchise, the Hornet is finally back in the classic Volkswagen Beetle (previously Chevrolet was due to sponsorship).
Small and cute, streamlined and flexible, classic and retro, the Beetle is the most suitable body for the bumblebee.
Coupled with the movie 's retro 80s setting, the boy's wall poster hangs John Carpenter's classic [The Thing] in the 80s, and the Bumblebee action pays homage to [The Breakfast Club].
Of course, there are also those impressive period hits, The Smiths, Bon Jovi, although Bumblebee spit out the tape after just one sentence.
Among these retro elements, Bumblebee's Beetle model is undoubtedly the most iconic , because it has already surpassed the model.
In pop culture, where does the Beetle not exist?
In 1969, the Beatles' classic album "Abbey Road" was released, and the album cover was a classic scene of four people walking side by side on a crosswalk.
The four of them are naturally well-deserved protagonists, but behind the four, a bright white car parked on the street on the left is the Beetle.
Back in the 1930s, when Hitler ordered designer Ferdinand Porsche to design a "car affordable for the masses" in one sentence, he would never have imagined that his goal would be achieved in the distant continental United States 30 years later.
At that time, he was ambitious, he needed brains, and Porsche needed political capital. The two hit it off and Volkswagen was formed.
Hitler named these rounded trolleys "Power from Joy," and he proudly declared that "the power of joy is produced for all the people."
As a result, these designs, which he was extremely proud of, were unanimously ridiculed by the media when they arrived in the United States. The New York Times called it "just as ugly as a Beetle. "
The Beetle may not be a pretty bug, but the media's taunting reinforces an iconic character for these little cars.
The name "Beetle" also spread like wildfire, and people don't remember what the strange name "Joy Force" was.
However, during the war, Volkswagen switched to munitions, and the Beetle did not have the opportunity to mass-produce it. It was not mass-produced until 1945 after the end of World War II, and it quickly captured the markets of European countries such as Germany and France.
In just a few years from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, its sales more than tripled in Europe. By 1963, almost one in every three cars on West German roads was a Beetle.
However, on the other side of the US market, it was not so smooth at the beginning.
What car models were popular in America in the 1950s?
It was a time when American consumerism was booming, and everyone was chasing bigger TVs, more luxurious cars, and higher-end vacations than their neighbors.
Cars are getting longer and more luxurious. People are fascinated by the long luxury cars made by automakers such as Volkswagen and General Motors. How can anyone pay attention to the small Beetle?
As a result, in the 1960s, small and short, low horsepower, simple and low-end, it was these characteristics that were contrary to the consumer trend, which became the reason why the Beetle was suddenly accepted and highly praised by the young hippie generation.
In fact, it is easy to understand, after all, it is the Woodstock generation that prides itself on rebellion.
The new generation of young people is fed up with the old-fashioned previous generation. From the beginning, they planned to take a completely different path and live a different life from their parents' generation.
In the choice of car, they naturally rejected the taste of the previous generation. The stylish, small, practical and energetic Beetle took the opportunity to break into the world of young people at this moment.
The advertising agency launched an unconventional slogan, "Think Small" , which was just at the right moment. The poster showed a small beetle in a vast white world.
Anti-material, anti-tradition, anti-consumption, the image of the Beatles and the spiritual pursuit of young hippies perfectly fit at this moment.
Therefore, it was the times that chose the Beetle, as many people would probably say.
In 1967, when San Francisco's Haight Ashbury neighborhood attracted an influx of hundreds of thousands of young hippies, the Beatles followed.
That summer, young people followed their Beat predecessors and started a free cultural community of their own generation in San Francisco.
Here, they can wear fancy clothes or be naked, and can dance, create, perform music and drama freely. All concepts and cultures are about "freedom to create".
And the media coverage is attracting more young people from all over the country who leave their hometowns without saying goodbye to ride their Beetles or just hitch a ride on the road to San Francisco.
The Beatles, together with "Summer of Love", were written into a page of hippie culture.
Including a year later, at the most famous 1968 Woodstock festival of the hippie era, the Beatles still played an important role, and they were everywhere.
In line with the slogan of the hippies "have sex, don't fight", the Beatles also played the slogan " I do my thing, you do yours (We do our thing, You do yours)".
"Look at the heart, pay attention to the society, withdraw from the world", this slogan uttered by Timothy Leary in Golden Gate Park, also unexpectedly achieved some kind of realization in the Beetle, which upholds practicality and anti-consumption, although it is Realization in the sense of anti-consumption at the spiritual level.
The Beatles (The Beatles) were also one of the cultural icons of the 1960s. Although there was no connection between their names, it appeared on the band's album cover and later on Bob Dylan's cover. .
Also in 1968, just a few months after many Beetles drove to Woodstock, Disney seized the opportunity to launch the family-friendly movie The Love Bug.
In the movie, the Beetle becomes a smart, conscious, talking race car, interspersed with the boys' love and adventures, and has earned more than 50 million at the box office.
The Beatles played the protagonist in the movie, and they have done a lot of them. There are three sequels in 1974, 1977 and 1980, and even the most recent one is still being remade in 2005.
In the '70s classic [Love's Big Track] , Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal end up floating in the San Francisco Bay in a Beetle after a climactic car chase.
It also appears in Woody Allen's movies. In the 1973 film [Fools Raising in Science City] , Woody Allen created a future world 200 years later.
As a result, the male protagonist still sees the classic Beetle of this era in the future, and he marvels at the quality of the car and re-launches it.
From the American animation "Spoof House" to the Japanese animation "Detective Conan", from the classic "Transformers" to the American TV series "Breaking Bad", there are many Beetles in these classic works.
Anyway, as long as you recall the 1960s and 1970s, you can't get past it.
Because, it itself has become the popular culture and memory of an era.
Although in September 2018 not long ago, Volkswagen officially confirmed the news that the Beetle model will be discontinued in 2019.
But since 1981, when the 20 millionth Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Peubla, Mexico, setting a new world record, it has been an industry legend.
There may be few brands like it, more than 70 years since its birth, and still have countless fans and admirers around the world.
Like the homage in this retro [Bumblebee] movie, isn't the fact that it's going back from Chevrolet to the Beetle already moving enough?
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Author / Curly Hair
This article was first published on the WeChat public account [Broken Word]
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