The Car Movers (or 'Overalls and Mentos')

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The Car Movers (or 'Overalls and Mentos')


Whimsically sugar-coated commercial
                or
Amazing parallel to the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution?

The "Car Movers" is a classic interpretation of the struggle
between the Proletariat worker and the Bourgeois ruling class. 
Like Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, The Freshmaker 
has provided us with a depiction of the injustices suffered by 
the Working Class, and their subsequent confrontation
with the Ruling Class.

In Potemkin, the enlisted man is the hero -- representing the Worker,
suffering unjustly from the savage treatment they receive from the
Officers, who represent the Ruling Class. In Mentos, the working class
is represented by a single heroine. Young, fresh and full of life. She
drives a vehicle for utilitarian purposes only, unencumbered by the
materialistic trappings of the elite. The car is ugly, compact, 
strangely colored, and by all accounts -- uncomfortable. Obviously, 
its purpose is simple: it functions as part of the State, where 
individual luxuries take a back seat (pun intended). There is no room 
for selfish materialism in the New State.

Like the hammer and sickle, it represents hard work, sweat, and the
elements that contribute to the Communist State -- and the ultimate
betterment of all people.

Enter the Bourgeois: His vehicle represents the extravagances of the
Ruling Class. It is twice as large as the heroine's vehicle, and does
not serve the State. Instead, it is a luxurious self-indulgence. Another
example of the selfishness of the wealthy, and the exploitation of the
poor. By parking his car in such a way as to inhibit the motion of the
heroine's communist utility vehicle, he drives home a point
that is far from subtle: These Bourgeois luxuries impede the growth of
the People's State.

Our heroine protests. Nonviolently, at first. She attempts to convince
the elitist upper class that their selfish ways prevent the
growth of a true People's State. Her pleas fall on deaf ears however, 
and in a coup-de-grace, he motions to his watch. The message: The 
Bourgeois state will last forever.

This, of course, sets the revolution in motion. And there is symbolism
a-plenty. In Potemkin, the workers are driven to mutiny in part by the
rotten bread and meat forced upon them by the Officers. In
Mentos, food products again becomes a catalyst for revolt -- by eating 
Mentos, she brings renewed vigor to her cause.

With the injustices of the Ruling Class before her, and Mentos on her
breath, our heroine (symbolizing Mother Russia, matron of the Worker's
Party) rises to the occasion. She rallies her comrades in
arms. Clad in overalls and working on a construction site, they are 
the embodiment of the Working Class. Under the heroine's leadership, 
the revolution flows ahead smoothly: There is no power struggle here -- 
All the workers unite to achieve their goal of a People's State.

Even more stark symbolism: The Bourgeois ruling class, their
back turned to the workers, fails to see the revolution coming. When 
finally, the antagonist realizes his fate, it is too late: The workers
have rallied, and with the machinery of the People's State set in 
motion, have overcome their obstacles. The ruling class no longer 
represents a threat to the progress of the Worker's Party. Our heroine 
turns to the now deposed Ruling Class, and in a final gesture of 
solidarity, shows him her Mentos -- a gesture that will no doubt linger
in the minds of viewers forever.

As memorable even, as Potemkin's Odessa Steps scene. The new
comrade is forced to smile -- because, once and for all, he has 
realized the folly and injustice of the class hierarchy.


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