Global Sports: How Did Movies Show Me City Bicycling Values?

Thursday, May 23, 2013

How Did Movies Show Me City Bicycling Values?

By Rob Sutter


City bicycling is something that I have memories of but you'd be surprised by just what origins these rest in. Some of them actually resided in film, whether you would like to believe it or not. It was one of those areas in which I couldn't help but to watch and "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" was the greatest example, to me, because of how great the scope of the movie proved itself to be. When talking about specific traits of the film, though, I can list off quite a few.

If your eye was set on the vintage kind of ride that Pee-wee possessed, it wouldn't seem like something that authorities the likes of Linus Bike would cast aside. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find another variant which possesses such unique traits. It's hard for me to describe in writing but, as a child, I don't think that I ever saw a ride like that before. I think that even those with the loosest sense of interest in city bicycling can tell just how interesting it would look in anyone's garage, storeroom, or what have you.

For such an interesting bike, though, you'd probably imagine that it would be stolen in just about any fictional scenario tailored mostly to children. Once the ride is out of Pee-wee's possession, it's clear that he has to go and look for it, which takes a venture around the world in order to do so. As you can imagine, a number of hijinks would ensue that you would never correlate to real life. However, I think that's always been the charm of Pee-wee and his actions seen in the movie or the show which was a hit.

I also can't go on without mentioning the imagery and how it seems to change on a dime in the film. Throughout the course of the movie, Pee-wee is able to catch a ride with a truck driver by the name of Large Marge and the mood seems to take a darker turn. While she is speaking, she turns and her expression suddenly changes from realistic to something that you would only see in CGI animation you could watch today. It was only a few seconds long but those few seconds can leave an impact.

I am sure that you can tell just how many city bicycling memories I have based on this. I enjoyed being able to ride about but it seemed like there were always those limits that I was unable to reach for one reason or another. "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" allowed me to do so and I think that if I saw the movie as an adult, I wouldn't have appreciated it as much. One may cite this as nostalgia and, in truth, I don't think that there's a term which is more fitting.




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