A few days back the internet was broken by Elon musk once again by the launch of his Cybertruck. Unlike the Falcon X or Roadster in Space events, a few years back, Cybertruck became a meme bait.
Criticism
Many criticized it for the sharp edges and lack of aesthetics. Even the popular car vlogger Supercar blondie gave a thumbs down and called it the pyramid car or flintstones car and whatnot. There is a lot of criticism about the functionality as well, in this video. Some even say it’s a copy from the Keanu Reeves starrer popular video game, Cyberpunk.
However, if you guys remember, not so many years back when Elon Musk sent a sportscar into space for no reason and it was cool and radical. The internet saw that as a message symbolic of the human spirit to explore space. “Roadster in space” didn’t get much criticism because the images of a red car with the background of blue Earth was no less than a sighting of SUPERMAN in sky
Cybertruck seems to be only a victim of mismatch of people’s perception about aesthetics and Musk’s fantasy
While the internet is arguing about FORM and FUNCTION, we believe Elon Musk is doing this for FUN.
Following are our thoughts on what Cybertruck represents and possibly why is important to let Cybertruck be Cybertruck
Futurism & Retrofuturism
Futurism was a social and artistic movement that defined the times when Elon Musk grew up. It was somewhere in the late 70s and early 80s when Global Warming was just a Hoax, Plastic pollution did not bother us and even animal extinction was not due to human beings and anything which was metallic, mechanical or even post-apocalyptic was considered cool and trendy.
As the future unfolded, a lot of environmental concerns started to cloud the human consciousness which eventually impacted our sense of aesthetics and functionalities.
So the Futurism never happened and gave way to Naturism and Environmentalism
Then Retrofuturism happened when the futurism kids grew up and saw a world that was no way closer to what they have seen in films, comic books & collectible toys, started to live that nostalgia of their childhood. Hence, Retrofuturism is a separate art movement mostly “underground” and represents the nostalgia to relive the childhood of futurism kids.
Retrofuturism was an escape mechanism to relive the childhood that dreamt of future
The evolution of retro-futurism in no way represents disregard for the environmental concerns that have shaped the modern aesthetic sensibilities and art movements such as naturism and environmentalism
What Elon Musk’s Cybertruck is doing is living the Retrofuturist’s fantasy
The next question is why? Why does one have to satisfy their own childhood fantasies? And there is only one word for it: FUN.
