Spoiler alert
How frightening, a world full of exciting options for public transportation, cleaner environments, more social society this must be the apocalypse! In fact, this description of a fictitious frightening world is exactly what America was like in the early 20th century and it was far from scary, it was paradise! "Sprawling from Grace" directed by David Edwards examines the consequences that stem from Suburbanization and how every day millions of Americans continue to dig themselves deeper into oil dependency ensuring that in the near future dream lives will become nightmares if something is not done about it. The film is full of dramatizations that are unfortunately more true than not and stresses the need for altering how we develop are nation and more so the world. The main argument in the documentary is that we've created the American dream in suburbia and segregated our neighborhoods beginning after World War 2 separating housing, industrial development, commercial development, education and transportation increasing dramatically the need for more energy. The documentary focuses more on the oil aspect of energy and how the automobile in America has slowly but surely led us to our own destruction not only financially but environmentally, and socially. In the end, the movie stresses that it is our standard of living that will eventually lead to our demise as a species shall we not choose to alter our lifestyles to live more sustainably. The film presents itself in very compelling arguments led by some of the top scientists, environmental geologists, doctors and even previous U.S. presidents.
Sprawling from Grace opens up with a scene in black and white of a young boy fantasizing about the American Dream and what it is he wants from it. At the end of the dream the young boy says "I wish I was old enough to drive". This opening scene sets the groundwork for the documentaries two main culprits the automobile and suburbia. The movie goes into how the automobile embodied "wealth, freedom and independence giving individuals a false sense of achievement and security if they could obtain one. It even goes into detail about how cars are giving names in order for the consumer to be able to relate to them such as "Pathfinder or Trailblazer" reinforcing that false sense of security. With the automobile began Suburbanization, the movie goes into how after the second World War people began sprawling out from cities (mainly returning veterans from the war) hoping to get as far from urban dwellings as possible. With the sudden shift from urbanization towns began being planned out, houses and neighborhoods were secluded far from walk able distances to grocery shopping, entertainment, work and public transit. The way suburbia was planned out created the need and dependency for the automobile. This dependence on the automobile seems to be the main focus throughout the entire documentary. As human population increases so will automobile use, the documentary draws one of its main points from the expansion of highway systems. The main point being while you can add a lane or two to ease congestion its overall effects are minimal. Shelly Poticha comments that while 'it takes billions of dollars to add one extra lane to ease congestion it will only save one minute overall in commute time". So for billions of dollars we save one minute which is nothing and better yet that minute will dissolve in 5- 10 years reinforcing the fact that we are only delaying the inevitable "self-destruction" thanks to our transportation problems. President Clinton in the documentary made a rather scary projection, within my own life time if oil consumption patterns continue we will no longer be able to sustain our current way of life. This brief statement by the President is followed by music set in a tone that creates suspense and leads to conversation on the oil crisis in the 1970's. A shortage in oil production of just two oil refineries caused drastic and catastrophic results all across the U.S. The documentary shows how gas rationing became the number one priority across the land causing long lines at the pump, strict pumping regulations such as even and odd day pumping, and disruptions in all commercial trucking including the delivery of food and medical care were all effected. The documentary wants to make us realize that the crisis in 1970 has been lingering ever since, the only thing that temporarily relieved it was the discovery of new oil basins once again reinforcing that we are only prolonging our destruction but it cannot last forever. With the emergence of new countries such as India and China the demand for oil will only go up. So to reiterate what does the automobile, oil use and suburbanization have in common they all depend on one another. But can suburbanization exist without the great weight it plays on our environment and way of life. The answer is simple, yes it can. Towards the end of the movie King Hubert PH.D tells us that before world war 2 we had the idea of city planning "right". It wasn't until after the war that we abandoned everything we learned about planning from the previous 1,000 years and drifted off until almost no return. He simply states that "all we need to do is return to the era of the trolley car", it ran throughout the city making frequent stops allowing people to get everything they needed to get done within walking distance (many shops were situated around public transit). At this point a brief slide from the early 1900's plays and shows a community in action, fully thriving the entire time with minimal automobile usage. The availability for "alternative transportation is what made this work" he states and all we must do is make it more efficient and easy for people to be able to walk to these destinations such as public transit, and areas that they can get all their shopping and social needs done without feeling burdened.
How frightening, a world full of exciting options for public transportation, cleaner environments, more social society this must be the apocalypse! In fact, this description of a fictitious frightening world is exactly what America was like in the early 20th century and it was far from scary, it was paradise! "Sprawling from Grace" directed by David Edwards examines the consequences that stem from Suburbanization and how every day millions of Americans continue to dig themselves deeper into oil dependency ensuring that in the near future dream lives will become nightmares if something is not done about it. The film is full of dramatizations that are unfortunately more true than not and stresses the need for altering how we develop are nation and more so the world. The main argument in the documentary is that we've created the American dream in suburbia and segregated our neighborhoods beginning after World War 2 separating housing, industrial development, commercial development, education and transportation increasing dramatically the need for more energy. The documentary focuses more on the oil aspect of energy and how the automobile in America has slowly but surely led us to our own destruction not only financially but environmentally, and socially. In the end, the movie stresses that it is our standard of living that will eventually lead to our demise as a species shall we not choose to alter our lifestyles to live more sustainably. The film presents itself in very compelling arguments led by some of the top scientists, environmental geologists, doctors and even previous U.S. presidents.
Sprawling from Grace opens up with a scene in black and white of a young boy fantasizing about the American Dream and what it is he wants from it. At the end of the dream the young boy says "I wish I was old enough to drive". This opening scene sets the groundwork for the documentaries two main culprits the automobile and suburbia. The movie goes into how the automobile embodied "wealth, freedom and independence giving individuals a false sense of achievement and security if they could obtain one. It even goes into detail about how cars are giving names in order for the consumer to be able to relate to them such as "Pathfinder or Trailblazer" reinforcing that false sense of security. With the automobile began Suburbanization, the movie goes into how after the second World War people began sprawling out from cities (mainly returning veterans from the war) hoping to get as far from urban dwellings as possible. With the sudden shift from urbanization towns began being planned out, houses and neighborhoods were secluded far from walk able distances to grocery shopping, entertainment, work and public transit. The way suburbia was planned out created the need and dependency for the automobile. This dependence on the automobile seems to be the main focus throughout the entire documentary. As human population increases so will automobile use, the documentary draws one of its main points from the expansion of highway systems. The main point being while you can add a lane or two to ease congestion its overall effects are minimal. Shelly Poticha comments that while 'it takes billions of dollars to add one extra lane to ease congestion it will only save one minute overall in commute time". So for billions of dollars we save one minute which is nothing and better yet that minute will dissolve in 5- 10 years reinforcing the fact that we are only delaying the inevitable "self-destruction" thanks to our transportation problems. President Clinton in the documentary made a rather scary projection, within my own life time if oil consumption patterns continue we will no longer be able to sustain our current way of life. This brief statement by the President is followed by music set in a tone that creates suspense and leads to conversation on the oil crisis in the 1970's. A shortage in oil production of just two oil refineries caused drastic and catastrophic results all across the U.S. The documentary shows how gas rationing became the number one priority across the land causing long lines at the pump, strict pumping regulations such as even and odd day pumping, and disruptions in all commercial trucking including the delivery of food and medical care were all effected. The documentary wants to make us realize that the crisis in 1970 has been lingering ever since, the only thing that temporarily relieved it was the discovery of new oil basins once again reinforcing that we are only prolonging our destruction but it cannot last forever. With the emergence of new countries such as India and China the demand for oil will only go up. So to reiterate what does the automobile, oil use and suburbanization have in common they all depend on one another. But can suburbanization exist without the great weight it plays on our environment and way of life. The answer is simple, yes it can. Towards the end of the movie King Hubert PH.D tells us that before world war 2 we had the idea of city planning "right". It wasn't until after the war that we abandoned everything we learned about planning from the previous 1,000 years and drifted off until almost no return. He simply states that "all we need to do is return to the era of the trolley car", it ran throughout the city making frequent stops allowing people to get everything they needed to get done within walking distance (many shops were situated around public transit). At this point a brief slide from the early 1900's plays and shows a community in action, fully thriving the entire time with minimal automobile usage. The availability for "alternative transportation is what made this work" he states and all we must do is make it more efficient and easy for people to be able to walk to these destinations such as public transit, and areas that they can get all their shopping and social needs done without feeling burdened.