@popdetective · Pop Culture Detective
Saved 2026-05-26 · Posted 2026-05-01 · Status: New
The movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” references a real-life conspiracy by automotive companies to destroy public transit in Los Angeles and elsewhere. #automotive #losangeles #publictransport #disney #animation
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Comments (15)
I always wondered why public transport in the U.S. is so limited. I’ve biked to grab groceries and got weird looks—like it’s not normal. I have a car, but why not enjoy a beautiful day and move your body?
Now my coastal town is full of big pickups that don’t care about pedestrians, and people are pushing back on adding a commuter train—like it’ll ruin everything. It’s such a huge asset, yet people resist it. Makes you wonder how much influence car culture (and the auto industry) really has.
I think the race aspect is still there, because the cartoons are treated like secondary citizens and are only valued for the work that they do for the humans. The fact that Eddie and his brother are the only one law adjacent types to actually take on the cartoons cases is another thing
There’s a fascinating documentary from the 1990s called “Taken for a Ride” that you can watch in various places online for free if you’d like to know more about this history.
I heard somewhere that Who Framed Roger Rabbit was supposedly the unofficial sequel to Chinatown. Chinatown was supposed to have a trilogy spanning the conspiracy of water rights, public transits and oil. But the production of getting it made a notoriously troubled that they dropped it entirely. However, Jack Nicholson would go on to direct and star The Two Jakes which would be the direct sequel to Chinatown and it bombed critically and financially.
As a kid. I always wondered why the plot was so well connected to a city. It felt like there was a message.
I need to watch this movie again. As a kid the plot was way over my head. But I loved it.
Wow! I need to re-watch this as an adult because all I mostly remember is Roger, Jessica Rabbit, and the mixing of live action and animation lol but this post has me interested in watching again
I love you for doing a report on this, people sleep on this movie. It’s one of my favorites from childhood
This! I love this movie and how it uses the goofy power of cartoons to talk about a real world problem. It’s one of the powers of cartoons that I’m so inspired by, you see similar deep social political messaging in other cartoons like, chicken run, bugs life , ONEPIECE and many others! So good
I gotta rewatch now that I’m older
We could of had it all…
The B-story of this movie and Chinatown explain like 98% of why LA is the shape it is.
It has not gotten better recently, as a person who takes public transportation in LA regularly
Yeah I didn’t pick up on any of this growing up. Time to watch it as an adult.🤔
I was sitting at a fast food place in oklahoma and commented to my wife about how I hate the new development in the area we were visiting. Solely because it was designed for only cars. It didn't want to make you want to walk around to visit the store, it created an environment that you wanted to get in your car to drive down to another store front. It lowers our social circles and business to local store fronts.