The most condensed format of the conversionist motif is the TV commercial, which has become essential to both network and religiou...s broadcasting. Embedded in its structure are sentiments from our religious and political heritage: salvation and choice. Newness of life can now be associated with a change of heart about politics, the purchase of a new car, or the selection of a beverage. A Pepsi commercial, for example, designed to fit the charismatic personality and gifts of singer Michael Jackson, became an invitation to make a decision and join in. Images and sounds of the soft-drink ad drew viewers into a growing throng of happy, dancing people following the steps of a dynamic cultural hero. Even couch potatoes might have been roused, vicariously at least, to skip lightly behind the agile Jackson as he led his ecstatic followers to the right choice. The conversionist call in this instance is to come on up to the good life through Pepsi. Nonetheless it plays upon the persuasive motifs of turning around and becoming a part of something larger.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The car as we know it is on the way out. To a large extent, I deplore its passing, for as a basically old- fashioned machine, it e...nshrines a basically old-fashioned idea: freedom. In terms of pollution, noise and human life, the price of that freedom may be high, but perhaps the car, by the very muddle and confusion it causes, may be holding back the remorseless spread of the regimented, electronic society.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A car can massage organs which no masseur can reach. It is the one remedy for the disorders of the great sympathetic nervous syste...m.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I'd like to say I'm ready to kick ass and show the guys how it's done. But I'm not here to prove anything about being a woman. I'm... here to drive a race car and try to win a race.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Fifty years from now, it will not matter what kind of car you drove, what kind of house you lived in, how much you had in your ban...k account, or what your clothes looked like, But the world may be a little better because you were important in the life of a child.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A really tight friendship is when you start to really care about the person. If he gets sick, you kind of start worrying about him...--or if he gets hit by a car. An everyday friend, you say, I know that kid, he's all right, and you don't really think much of him. But a close friend you worry about more than yourself. Well, maybe not more, but about the same.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
"End of tomorrow. Don't try to start the car or look deeper... Into the eternal wimpling of the sky: luster On luster, transparency floated onto the topmost layer Until the whole thing overflows like a silver Wedding cake or Christmas tree, in a cascade of tears."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »