Car Crash Culture

by Mikita Brottman (Editor)

This book explores the grim underside of America's cult of the automobile and the frequently conspiratorial speculations that arise whenever people die in cars. Looking at fatal celebrity car accidents and other examples of death by automobile through personal memoir and forensic reports, cultural critics ponder people's fascination with car crashes. They explore car crash conspiracy theories, the automobile as a site of murder, car crash films, and the notion of the "accident." The book features original essays by such underground icons as Kenneth Anger and Adam Parfrey. Essays cover the deaths of Albert Camus, Jackson Pollock, James Dean, Jayne Mansfield, Princess Diana, Princess Grace, and Mary Jo Kopechine, amongst others.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Sociology

399 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Mikita Brottman (born 30 October 1966) is a British scholar, psychoanalyst, author and cultural critic known for her psychological readings of the dark and pathological elements of contemporary culture. She received a D.Phil in English Language and Literature from Oxford University, was a Visiting Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University, and was Chair of the program in Engaged Humanities with an emphasis in Depth Psychology at the Pacifica Graduate Institute from 2008 to 2010. She currently teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Brottman's articles and case studies have appeared in Film Quarterly, The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, New Literary History, and American Imago. She has written influentially on horror films, critical theory, reading, psychoanalysis, and the work of the American folklorist, Gershon Legman.

Brottman also writes for mainstream and counterculture journals and magazines. Her work has appeared in such diverse venues as The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Bad Subjects, The Fortean Times, Headpress, and Popmatters, where her column, "Sub Rosa", ran from January 2007 to July 2009. Her essays have also appeared in a number of books and anthologies.

She is the author of the cult film books Meat is Murder and Hollywood Hex, as well as books on psychoanalysis, critical theory and contemporary popular culture. Her most recent book, The Solitary Vice: Against Reading (Counterpoint, 2008) was selected as one of the Best Books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, who said: "Sharp, whimsical and impassioned, Brottman's look at the pleasures and perils of compulsive reading is itself compulsively readable and will connect with any book lover."

Brottman's partner is the film critic David Sterritt.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Fede · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been involved in a major car accident myself, and a fan of JG Ballard's novel Crash ever since, I was naturally drawn to this book, which is largely based on similar premises although from a non-fictional perspective.
I expected it to be weird, perhaps morbid, as any book dealing with the analysis of car accidents and the role they play in the modern imaginary is bound to be; or so I thought. I was pleased to find out it's a very good and informative work instead, with contributions by intellectuals, artists, critics, scholars and professionals (ranging from medical examiners to psychiatrists to attorneys) whose personal take on the subject is the result of their having being either personally involved or professionally concerned with the medical, social and cultural implications of such events.
Not only the collision of vehicles, but also cases of psychopathological behaviour, fetishism, iconic tragedies, forensic reports, the deaths of celebrities, and all sorts of facts and figures related to the automobile as a catalyst of violent drives and the symbol of 20th century's most ambiguous contradictions.

I found all the essays in this collection to be excellent, starting with the editor's long introduction, in which she tells about her own experience as a car crash victim and how the book aims at providing the reader with an overview of the subject as varied and exhaustive as possible.
And it does indeed, the contributions being so diverse and yet perfectly fitting. The collection is divided into five sections, each focussing on a particular aspect (Contemplation, Crime, Conspiracy theories, Cinema and Death Drive) and includes - to name but a few - a piece by cult director Kenneth Anger on Hollywood road victims; a dissertation on a touching 1947 picture from "Life" magazine showing the body of a girl who'd jumped off the Empire State Bulding's top floor and crashed onto the roof of a car; digressions on car design and advertising; recollections of momentous events in the essayists' lives, either as protagonist or bystanders, some of which are genuinely stunning pieces of writing; reconstructions of road tragedies made glamorous by the people involved (James Dean, Isadora Duncan, Jayne Mansfield, Camus, Jackson Pollock); the plethora of car-related conspiracy theories (Grace Kelly, Princess Diana,  M.J. Kopechne, Paul McCartney's alleged death in 1966, Kennedy's fatal motorcade, the shooting of John Paul II standing in his Jeep); the role of the passenger in the psychological dynamics of driving; cases of suicidal/homicidal use of the car; and the way all such aspects merge in the shaping of our collective obsessions, the dark side of 20th century's celebrity cult and (self)destructive drives.

There are quite a few b/w pictures to match the text: wrecks crumpled beyond recognition, grotesque suicide scenes, anonymous car crash victims, tragic icons and their mangled vehicles. Moreover, all the authors, books, interviews and statistics mentioned in these essays are duly referred to in the footnotes, thus allowing further insight - and cross-checking.

It is important to point out that, due to the editor's clever approach, there's no taste for the outrageous or macabre in this book; no offensive morbidity nor gratuitous exhibition of gruesome or salacious details, not even when the most prurient anecdotes are mentioned (such as F.W. Murnau's deadly crash, with the German filmmaker apparently performing oral sex on his fourteen-year-old Filipino chauffeur) or when the authors deal with the issue of deviant sex and psychopathological behaviour involving motors. In this respect, cases of accidental death following autoerotic asphyxiation are also analysed, along with several descriptions of crime scenes and forensic reports. All of which are quite explicit without ever being gross, which is undoubtedly an achievement, considering the nature of the subject.

Apart from scientific publications and online garbage, there must be very few works like this one available to the public at large. It's an unusual but informative book that encourages the reader to face a difficult subject from different perspectives, both familiar and unfamiliar; it's a healthy experience and a way to make up one's mind about things that need being shed light upon.
Given the overall quality of the writing and the peculiar contents it deals with, I can't recommend it enough.

"Somewhere, right now, a vehicle is being destroyed beyond recognition. Somewhere, a car's occupants are but seconds from death. In the relentless cacophony that soundtracks the nightmare of modern civilization, the scream of cars in collision is mixed high. And for the most part, unless we are directly involved, we ignore these thousands of crashes taking place all around us every day, simply accepting that road accidents happen all the time in a culture so heavily reliant on the automobile. But right now, somewhere on earth, a car is crashing."

[MKF · Rating 4 out of 5]

A morbidly fascinating read about car crashes and other automobile deaths including homicide and suicide. Many of the cases are well known such as Jayne Mansfield, Janes Dean, Princess Diana, and even includes John F. Kennedy. Also found inside are conspiracies, movies and so much more. It is one of those books you really want to read but a part of you doesn't.