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Cars Headlights

Cars is a 2006 animated Disney Pixar movie that follows the race car Lightning McQueen through his journey of self-discovery and getting over his ego. The movie has two sequels (creatively named Cars 2 and Cars 3), as well as a short mini-series and two non-Pixar Disney movies, Planes (2013) and Planes: Fire & Rescue(2014), that focus on the planes in this universe. In this essay(?), I will be focusing primarily on the first movie, and there will be mentions of the sequels. 

As a child born in the 2000s, I have seen Cars and Cars 2 more times than I can count, and these movies have consequently burned themselves into my mind. Despite the place they hold in my memory, they do not share a similar place in my heart. In my effort to gain a sort of love for these movies, I am going to add feminism and gender politics. I am not really answering questions but just proposing them.

PART 1: Miatas and their tatas

At the beginning of the first Cars movie, a pair of Lightning McQueen superfan Miatas flash their headlights at Lightning. When they do this, the implication is that they are flashing their tits at mcqueen, a joke aimed at the adults watching the movie with their children. While the moment is brief and no more than a throwaway gag, it provokes many questions for me in regard to gender and sexuality in the Cars universe. While it is scandalous for these cars to show their headlights, it is normal and expected for the vast majority of cars to always have their headlights out. What separates these groups is whether they choose immodesty or have no choice but immodesty. Cars with no covering for their headlights lack a natural choice for modesty and are allowed to be immodest in a way the other group, through no fault of their own, cannot. By the nature of their birth, blinky light cars are forced to conform to a set of morals and modesty that those around them do not. This makes me think of the difference in treatment of men’s tits versus women’s tits. Men can walk around shirtless all they want with no repercussions. It is normal for men to go full frontal at the beach or pool in a way that would be shocking and illegal for women. If anything, efforts to cover men’s tits will be seen as more immodest and more taboo than it is not to cover them. This matches the cars that do not have blinky headlights in the world of cars. In this logic, cars without winky headlights are men, and those with them are women. Women are expected and forced to coverup their boobs because of their average relative size compared to men and social conditioning that sexualizes women’s tits. Like the cars with headlights that can be hidden, the fat deposits granted to cis women at birth (more accurately puberty) cause them to be othered by the other half of society. Women have more there than men most of the time and are motivated to cover up. If you have DDD boobs, you’re gonna to want to support them and consequently cover them. This natural feature of a person leads to them being naturally drawn to a place of modesty. On the winky eye cars, their natural state draws them towards modesty as, at rest, their headlights are closed. While they might not always want their headlights out, like how women don’t always want their tits out, headlights are an important bodily function for these cars. Do these cars face oppression for their natural traits like women do in our society? If these cars are driving at night, is there the risk that those around them will be distracted by the usage of a stigmatized and sexualized part the same way we stigmatize breastfeeding mothers? 

PART 2: big tits or little, that is the question 

The cars all generally have small headlights, and the more attractive a car is, the smaller their headlights tend to be. The character Flo (see Flo’s Diner) is a character with noticeably small/missing headlights. Flo’s headlights are tiny, disguised as dimples. Does minimizing a body part that can be associated with femininity make a car more attractive, like how society rejects femininity in favor of masculinity? 

Side note: they could be nipple piercings

Another such car is the background character Kori Turbowitz's, a 2005 Luxomobile Animatic. Kori noticeably has headlight indents but no headlights. While it is not outright stated that she is attractive, I am going to assume that the female sports reporter is attractive, as is often seen in real life. She presents as female and makes me wonder if her lack of headlights is an attempt to conform to the high-speed racing culture she has dedicated her life to.

Now, the character Sally throws a big old wrench in my argument with her bigger and noticeable headlights. I think that this issue is explained by analyzing Sally as a character. Itty bitty titty headlight girlies are trying to conform to the popular beauty standards with their small head lights. Sally has put that all behind her, though, moving to a small town. I believe she is a canonically attractive car. I had trouble finding places that stated what cars were canonically attractive. I am leaning towards she is due to the tramp stamp and Lightning’s reaction to seeing her. Sally is attractive, but in a different way from the other girl cars. She’s not like the other girls, and she’s like the girl next door. Her objectively huge headlights(tits) are a reflection of how she ignores/rejects the popular mini headlight look. Shes a real woman(car) with real tits(headlights). In a move that can be seen as either sexist or feminist, I’m leaning towards sexist, Sally is rewarded for her rejection of popular beauty standards with Lightning McQueen. From a feminist perspective, she is rejecting the restricting standards of society. From a sexist perspective, Sally is rewarded for rejecting femininity and being “not like other girls”.

PART 3: Transformers?

While we do not meet any canonically trans or non-binary cars over the course of the series, it can be assumed that these cars do exist based on the gender parallels already shown between our world and their world. If we had male and female presenting cars, it is reasonable to assume there are also trans and non-binary cars. 

 Cosmetic care in the movies includes treatments such as paint, stickers, tires, and headlight covers. Is this as far as cosmetic care can go, or is it possible to sharpen or round out angles for gender affirming care? In the real world, you can change the shell of a car, although with much fuss, and it’s probably not a good idea for most people. For trans cars, is it possible for them to change their entire shell? If they can, gender confirming surgery would have amazing outcomes in their world. 

Side note: if they can change shells, is identity theft a bigger issue?

CONCLUSION:

Overall, the cars live in a society far too similar to ours out with their beauty standards and sexism, and I think we should blow them all up with gas and a laser. 

Works Cited

My brain

If you actually read this whole thing I'm so sorry and thank you so much I wanna hear what other people have to say on this

I just wrote a 3-4 ish page essay on Pixar cars and their headlights/tits what do I do with this