Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2001. [Vol. 7.] Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 27)
Studies - Sándor Végh: Adoption or Adaptation?: Interpretations of the Automobile
heroes, but under the surface there was the truth which covered political intrigues, cultural crisis, and the shadow of an economic disaster. Similarly, people tended, or rather wanted, to look at the automobile as a perfect gift which would transform the world automatically into an ideal one, utilizing only its advantages. However, the changes did not at all surface immediately, and several —actually foreseeable —problems and negative effects came up in the following decades which raised certain doubts about the automobile's overall beneficialness. In his list of the early negative effects of the motorcar, F. L. Allen identified the automobile as the source of family friction, a place for misconduct, the cause for a rising death toll on the roads, and an easy getaway for criminals (Big Change 123). Today, the most pressing ones are air pollution, exploitation of and encroaching upon the natural environment, and the parking problem. Historians have attempted to link other, not so direct consequences to the automobile as well. Examining the impacts of the automobile, for instance, Flink found that class differences, as well as localism and ethnicity, suffered a well-perceivable decline (America Adopts 3). The long-term consequences are evident now at the end of the century. The automobile did open roads to and from remote villages, farms, and ^faraway places. It certainly destroyed localism, poisoned traditional morals and lifeways, but it opened up space for development and provided isolated settlements with an easy access to modern civilization. The degradation was realized and acted upon rather late by authorities whose main concern today is to rebuild these places, ipestore the atmosphere and preserve the American past of which localism wa:; definitely a part. Although this reconstructed environment very well resembles the past, it is only a replica. By the masses it attracts, it does promote awareness of cultural heritage for Americans; however, its concealed falsity may give basis for criticism for counteradvocates of American culture. In my observations, Europeans who share a traditional and rieh cultural history of a thousand years or more, vehemently protest against the unstoppable U. S. commercial influence and "low-brow" popular taste. While the average European is stimulated —by commercial interest —to identify American culture 86
