WEBVTT 00:00:00.100 --> 00:00:02.200 Underneath all the silly cartoon antics, 00:00:02.300 --> 00:00:03.980 the movie who Framed Roger Rabbit? 00:00:03.981 --> 00:00:06.301 Is really about a real life conspiracy 00:00:06.302 --> 00:00:09.021 to destroy electric rail in the United States, 00:00:09.022 --> 00:00:11.661 specifically in the greater Los Angeles area. 00:00:11.662 --> 00:00:12.781 Now, really early in the movie, 00:00:12.782 --> 00:00:14.801 there's a punchline where Eddie essentially says, 00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:18.740 it would be absurd to own a car in the city of Los Angeles. 00:00:18.741 --> 00:00:19.421 Hey, Mister, 00:00:19.422 --> 00:00:21.621 Ain't you got a car? Who needs a car in LA? 00:00:21.622 --> 00:00:24.141 We got the best public transportation system in the world. 00:00:24.142 --> 00:00:26.741 That line is supposed to be really funny to a modern audience 00:00:26.742 --> 00:00:27.181 because 00:00:27.182 --> 00:00:31.401 Los Angeles has a notoriously terrible public transportation system. 00:00:31.402 --> 00:00:32.621 It's gotten a little better recently, 00:00:32.622 --> 00:00:33.741 but it's still awful. 00:00:33.742 --> 00:00:36.021 You need a car to do basically anything in Los Angeles 00:00:36.022 --> 00:00:37.681 and half for a really long time. 00:00:37.700 --> 00:00:39.520 But that wasn't always the case. 00:00:39.580 --> 00:00:41.740 There was a point when LA had one of the best, 00:00:41.741 --> 00:00:44.461 if not the best, public rail system in the world. 00:00:44.462 --> 00:00:45.581 It was fast, it was efficient, 00:00:45.582 --> 00:00:47.021 it was cheap. In fact, 00:00:47.022 --> 00:00:48.461 most cities in the United States, 00:00:48.462 --> 00:00:51.461 sort of mid size cities, had a rail network at one point. 00:00:51.462 --> 00:00:52.921 First they buy the red car, 00:00:53.020 --> 00:00:54.820 then they want to get their hands on Toontown. 00:00:54.821 --> 00:00:58.221 The movie references a real life conspiracy lead by General Motors 00:00:58.222 --> 00:01:00.061 that included oil companies, 00:01:00.062 --> 00:01:02.441 the predecessors to Exxon and Chevron. 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:04.200 It included Firestone tire. 00:01:04.220 --> 00:01:07.060 It included Mack truck and Graham buses. 00:01:07.061 --> 00:01:07.821 They all got together 00:01:07.822 --> 00:01:11.601 and they bought up all of these rail systems all over the country. 00:01:11.740 --> 00:01:13.260 ST. Louis, Baltimore, 00:01:13.261 --> 00:01:14.921 Oakland and Los Angeles. 00:01:15.300 --> 00:01:17.740 And then they systematically made them less efficient 00:01:17.741 --> 00:01:20.241 and then eventually dismantled them completely. 00:01:20.820 --> 00:01:23.880 The villain in Roger Rabbit is a character named Judge Doom. 00:01:23.940 --> 00:01:27.560 And in addition to traumatizing every child who saw this movie, 00:01:27.740 --> 00:01:30.780 uh, he is sort of the embodiment of this General Motors conspiracy. 00:01:30.781 --> 00:01:32.901 Nobody's gonna drive this lousy freeway 00:01:32.902 --> 00:01:34.741 when they can take the red car for a nickel. 00:01:34.742 --> 00:01:35.961 Oh, they'll drive. 00:01:36.020 --> 00:01:38.160 They'll have to. You see, 00:01:38.320 --> 00:01:41.780 I bought the red car so I could dismantle it. 00:01:41.781 --> 00:01:44.881 The plan was to replace the rail networks with bus service 00:01:44.940 --> 00:01:47.640 that was purposely designed to be unreliable. 00:01:47.641 --> 00:01:49.621 It's slow, gets caught in traffic, 00:01:49.622 --> 00:01:50.861 really annoying. Uh, 00:01:50.862 --> 00:01:53.221 that forces people to buy cars. 00:01:53.222 --> 00:01:54.461 If they wanna get to work on time, 00:01:54.462 --> 00:01:56.141 they have to own their own car. Right? 00:01:56.142 --> 00:01:58.281 You can get the whole populace of Los Angeles 00:01:58.340 --> 00:02:00.620 to have to buy a massive luxury item 00:02:00.621 --> 00:02:02.141 and going to debt to do so. 00:02:02.142 --> 00:02:05.041 That benefits all the companies involved in this conspiracy. 00:02:05.260 --> 00:02:07.180 There's a widespread belief that the transition 00:02:07.181 --> 00:02:09.121 from a public transit system 00:02:09.180 --> 00:02:12.980 to an extremely car centric society in the US was inevitable. 00:02:12.981 --> 00:02:15.381 But that's not true. It was purposely destroyed. 00:02:15.382 --> 00:02:17.181 It was purposely defunded. 00:02:17.182 --> 00:02:20.721 The thing about public transit is that it needs public investment 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:22.660 on the local level, on the state level, 00:02:22.661 --> 00:02:26.341 and on the federal level. But all of that began shifting into highways, 00:02:26.342 --> 00:02:28.061 partially because of the highway lobby, 00:02:28.062 --> 00:02:31.381 which General Motors was also involved in the movie 00:02:31.382 --> 00:02:33.781 Judge Doom is going to destroy Toon Town 00:02:33.782 --> 00:02:36.061 to make way for a massive highway expansion. 00:02:36.062 --> 00:02:38.341 But in real life, those highway expansions 00:02:38.342 --> 00:02:40.401 often went through black and Latino neighborhoods. 00:02:40.480 --> 00:02:42.740 So making way for the 1:01 and other highways, 00:02:42.741 --> 00:02:45.081 it raised those communities to the ground. 00:02:45.100 --> 00:02:46.660 But in who Framed Roger Rabbit, 00:02:46.661 --> 00:02:49.081 there are no people of color in the movie at all. 00:02:49.100 --> 00:02:49.740 The writers 00:02:49.741 --> 00:02:53.321 were clearly trying to comment on that racist history of Los Angeles, 00:02:53.460 --> 00:02:55.960 but in using cartoons as metaphors, 00:02:56.180 --> 00:02:58.020 they sort of ended up erasing it, 00:02:58.021 --> 00:02:59.987 which is more than a little ironic.