Fahrradsozialismus

Or One Got Fat, a 1963 propaganda film on bicycle safety.

I’ve never been much of a fan of the horror genre apart from perhaps enjoying them as period pieces in terms of production design & nostalgia for nostalgia sake. I can honestly say, however, that it is by far one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen – and I am including Turkish Star Wars & the 1962 Live action version of Astroboy, despite the fact that I was entranced by its frighteningly mesmerising albeit macabre narration by Edward Everett Horton (not to mention a plethora of good bad puns). You are hereby forewarned.

The messages are of course all perfectly sound, most of which you would expect today from any cycling advocacy campaign or a seasoned cyclist. Its realisation, resides in an entire different dimension of believability.

What construed as friendship or even fundamental human emotions (of course they are monkeys, after all) to the makers of the film is beyond one’s imagination. Just like many a classic horror movie, the members of the gang meet their gruesome demise one-by-one (including being flattened by a steamroller & falling into an uncovered manhole, naturally accompanied by sound-effects of hilarity) through their negligence of safety issues, the rest ride on with steady resolve, seemingly unconcerned towards their destination. The only child arrives safely without harm by following road rules, sits down, and devours the lunch of his companions, hence the title. Upon discovery that this child is in fact human, one probably shouldn’t be surprised at the capability of such cold-heartedness, but I don’t think social commentaries were part of the original intention of the filmmakers.

It really recalls the casualness with which pro-modern fairy-tales portray scenes of unspeakable violence, cruelty & general flagitiousness such as in Hansel & Gretel, The Little Mermaid & Little Red Riding Hood, as allegorical as they maybe, and as it is arguably in this case. Regardless of contemporary sensibilities towards such issues, the inherent experiential difference between the media to me would make the latter far more horrifying, especially as a child.

In addition to what one must be forced to interpret as humour, though undeniably morbid, again we see fear being used to punctuate the message of the film. Exactly how successful it was in enforcing the explicit message is unknown, and I can’t help but wonder just exactly how many children were traumatised & terrified out of cycling forever by this psychedelic Dantean journey through cyclic purgatory.

Just as the fearless red rider of Velosentai lie awake at night pondering exactly what bike would be represent the symbol of honour and justice on the road, lo and behold, an epiphany was upon him:

Not quite as ostentatious as the undeniably Japanese art of dekochari, but nevertheless like many aspects of Japanese culture, the difference between sincerity & irony is never too clear - to me one of the chief attractions.

Via Bakfiets en meer.

Though probably a bit preachy like those “one less car” stickers, but cute nevertheless.

A physical commentary on the excess & redundancy of the technological man or just another bizarre way of propelling oneself around? Somethings are better left untread - as surprisingly stable as it appears to be.

Captures perfectly the holier-than-thou elitist attitude too often associated with anyone who consider their intellectual, moral & spiritual superiority a scientific fact (i.e. pretty much everyone) simply due to their supposedly progressive approach to life, and particularly acute in some pseudo-retro-progressivists. Indeed I must admit that to some I myself must be gulity of it too, but at least I realise (or at least I hope I realise) the ionee of it all.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

One of the major issues of commuting by bike is its relatively small cargo capacity, especially for grocery shopping - until now. Introducing the Cart Bike. Trolley riding shall no longer be the exclusive pursuit of bored drunken students, and the days where you need to battle those energetic geriatrics for the last one is history.

Of course in reality it’d be a rather harsh ride with those wheels, let alone steering & weight issues (a conventional trolley wasn’t exactly designed to be light). Besides, bikes such as these already cater for this portion of the market, albeit at some considerable expense.