Lightning McQueen in ‘Cars’, “They’re driving right by, they don’t even know what they’re missing”
Pixar’s animated movie ‘Cars’ isn’t just a movie for kids but also a source of valuable life lessons with its message to stop and smell the flowers.
The pace of life seems to be getting ever faster as we digest more and more snippets of information on our devices, scrolling through short videos on TikTok, just reading the first few lines of articles that come through Discover. Even when traveling, we try to cram the experience of a whole country, or even countries, into a week-long whirlwind tour, or rush to our destination without appreciating the journey there.
This latter idea was part of the central message of the Pixar movie ‘Cars’, when the main character Lightning McQueen is watching travelers speed down the Interstate from Radiator Springs where he ended up by accident on his way to Los Angeles. “They’re driving right by, they don’t even know what they’re missing,” he notes.
Sally Carrera, the town’s lawyer and McQueen’s love interest, explains to him that it wasn’t always like that. The town, located on the old Route 66, where he finds himself temporarily stuck, got bypassed when the Interstate was built 40 years earlier “to save 10 minutes of driving.”
In the past cars didn’t use the old highway “to make great time, they drove on it to have a great time,” she adds. Just as travelers will eventually rediscover Radiator Springs and Route 66 with the help of McQueen in ‘Cars 3’, so too are people waking up to the idea that life isn’t always better just racing down the highway.
The best road isn’t always the fastest
The message from ‘Cars’ to slow down and enjoy the journey along with the surroundings has had an impact on people. Maia Tustonic, for example, shared in The Charlatan recently that with age she finally appreciates the central story Pixar was sharing, that one doesn’t have to reach their destination at “lightning speed,” but can be “just as happy getting there a little bit later” taking all one’s loved ones along for the journey.
“Ambition is important, and it will drive you and bring you moments of happiness,” she shared. “However, it will not fulfill you and it will not love you back.”
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