TV show Californication portrays bicycle road rage
After Magda Szubanski’s anti-cyclist rants the other week I was initially annoyed when I saw the first episode in season three of Californication.
Tucked away about halfway through the episode was a short scene between David Duchovny’s character Hank Moody and Dean Stacey Koons (no I’m not making that up) played by Peter Gallagher.
After watching it a few times over however all of a sudden it hit me. The scene in Californication was different to Szubanski’s pointless seething rant in that it was actually amusing in context.
Pay attention people, if you want to poke fun at cyclists take a leaf out of the following scene.
On one hand you’ve got the cyclist decked out in full kit gear (I couldn’t help but giggle at the full body lycra plus track style aerodynamic helmet just to ride around a university campus lol), cutting off cars, needlessly swearing, overly aggressive when approached and sitting in the middle of a wide street… just because.
Then there’s the driver, impatiently honking at the cyclist to get out of the way, pulling up alongside him like he’s got some superior position on the road and then finally throwing an object through his car window before speeding off.
I won’t spoil the episode for you but I will say the characters meet again and they do resolve their differences. When I first watched it I think part of the irritation was that it just felt like a random excuse to display some road rage against cyclists on the road.
Here’s some of the finer points of the scene which save it from being just that.
Initially Koons cuts off Moody on his bike. Interestingly the cyclist just puts out his hand and rides out into the intersection. Curiously a screen grab reveals that the cyclist is crossing a red pedestrian sign which suggests Moody is up against a red light anyway.
I’m not really sure who has right of way here but I do know that if you ride around like that and just expect cars to stop you’re going to wind up a pancake pretty quickly.
Then you have Moody catch up the cyclist and just because he can, the cyclist is swerving from left to right taking up the entire road, which seems to be a two lane one way street. I lol’ed again here at the lack of logic and deliberate flamebait.
After getting honked at, we then see the iconic backhand finger come out. Lol again.
Inexplicably the cyclist then concedes way and Moody pulls up where he then tries to reason with the testosterone fuelled crazy person on a bike. ‘Fuck you’ is his response at which point Moody flicks a cigarette at the cyclist.
Despite clearly bouncing off the cyclists helmet we then get to watch him wobble a bit before crashing into a traffic island. Again I couldn’t help but laugh at this because it just so ridiculous.
Mind you I’m not condoning this behaviour or suggesting it’s not dangerous, certainly having a cigarette flicked at you is pretty malicious – but in the context of the scene and then for it to cause a big crash it was quite amusing.
It was sort of like watching a car driving director imagine what it would be like to crash on a bicycle and then go about filming it. I mean lord knows I’ve been riding along and all of a sudden my handlebars just start wobbling dramatically and before I know it I’ve stacked. Happens all the time.
In any case, I think people who want to make fun of cyclists can learn something from this. Even over a scene where a driver causes a cyclist to crash there’s still a way to do it so that it isn’t just downright malicious.
Don’t be afraid to take comedy potshots at cyclists as a driver but find that balance when doing it. Too much on either side will come of as offensive but hit that sweet spot and you’ll have both cyclists and drivers grinning at the silliness of it all.
October 7th, 2009 at 11:34 pm motiv8dan(Quote)
so why no uproar on this? Magda was mucking around talking about cyclists, in this he actually makes a cyclists crash… Funny too,but whats the difference? Are you going to write a letter to the writers of calafornication and ask for an apology?
Its all in the same boat, funny thats what it is indended to be.
October 7th, 2009 at 11:53 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
No she wasn’t, her comments came across as malicious rage. The whole point of this post was to convey the difference between her approach and the writers of Californication.
Whilst the subject matter might be similar, the delivery of the ‘comedy’ is vastly different. I chose to write about this scene to illustrate an example of putting some thought into your delivery and not just presenting a one sided rant, as illustrated by Magda’s bull in a china shop shotgun approach.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:18 am James(Quote)
- This video shows a fairly balanced portrayal of road rage between two road users.
- It doesn’t suggest that people should go out and deliberately run any road users off the road.
- It does highlight that even when both drivers and cyclists act inappropriately, it is the cyclist that is going to come out of it worse than the driver.
- Magda & Julias talentless skit was not balanced and it encouraged inappropriate behaviour on the roads from one group of road users against another.
- Magda Szubanski is a spokesperson for an environmental awareness campaign, as well as a weight loss company and should be doing everything she can to encourage a mode of transport that is environmentally friendly, and a type of exercise that is fantastic for weight loss and fitness. Her ‘joke’ did the opposite.
- Magda Szubanski should know what it is like to be discriminated against and offended in the media, and should not throw stones around inside her transparent dwelling.