In the American film “Speed” by Jan de Bont from 1994, fellow traveler Annie (Sandra Bullock) is forced to take control of a bus. The situation is grave, the bus has become the subject of perfidious plans by a blackmailer. Annie has to pace. The blackmailer threatens to blow up the vehicle if it comes to a standstill. Sandra Bullock manages, of course, effortlessly to give direction to the film, which has now become a moving chamber play. Always straight ahead to avoid the abyss.
A recent photo from New York evokes memories of “Speed”, in which the everyday life of local public transport suddenly turned into a scene of existential need. Something similar happened in New York on Friday night. An accident occurred at the Washington Bridge, which connects the New York borough of Manhattan with the Bronx, as a result of which a bus had deviated from the lane and then protruded dangerously over an abyss. The New York Post reports that the accident occurred at 11:10 p.m. local time, i.e. at 5:10 a.m. Central European Time. According to police, no other vehicle was involved. The New York Fire Department said that eight people had to be treated injured.
The mild outcome of the accident makes it easy to interpret the image of the accordion bus swaying in the air as a symbol of American conditions – the largest democracy in the world as a pipe in the wind. Anyone who would like to pursue Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of existence could think of the phrase “being lingering out into nothing” when looking at the bus. The abyss of a society is seldom properly signposted, but appears unexpectedly and like an attack.
Meanwhile, the state loyalists of American society, who were in shock after the Capitol attacks, are trying to get symbolic political rehabilitation. At the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden next Wednesday, Lady Gaga is to sing the national anthem, actor Tom Hanks will be leading the program and Jennifer Lopez has also announced an appearance. After the American cultural elite had had enough to do with rejecting invitations from Donald Trump and denying him permission to play, it is now back to being there under the motto “America united” – if it weren’t for this dangerously hanging bus as a warning.
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