The World Of Tomorrow

Deciding I was in need of a few hours away from dreaming up suitably ironic ends for characters in my new horror script, yesterday I laced up my “sneakers” (I use quotes since the shoes are on their way out and have lost most – if not all – of their sneak) and beat the street toward the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. While the gallery’s “Sacred Africa” exhibit made for an interesting stop, mostly because of its nkosi – a knife-wielding voodoo doll that looks like an acupuncture experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong – my real draw to the museum was the exhibit “American Streamlined Design: The World of Tomorrow.”

Using examples of streamlined and art deco design from the 1920’s through to the present, it illustrates how exquisite form can triumph over mundane function, allowing everyday objects to become genuine works of art. How a toaster, in other words, can become worthy of a toast. How a fan can win fans. How a…well, you get the idea. And while household appliances weren’t the only objects on display, they did go a long way toward establishing that every product on the assembly line in those days – from vacuum cleaners to aircraft – spent the majority of their design phase in a wind tunnel. It was underground, I’m guessing, and staffed by clipboard-clutching scientists in goggles and white lab coats who would nod at one another approvingly as they cracked the design of yet another stainless steel lawnmower that could, theoretically, travel faster than the speed of sound. And while all of the items on display shared those same qualities of elegant simplicity and flawless aerodynamics, they were also united by my favorite aspect of streamline design: boundless optimism.

No matter what scholars, engineers and architects may say about the movement’s intention being cleanliness and efficiency, the purpose of streamline design is – in fact – to convey hope. While the smooth, curved lines of its designs may seem to diverge, they’re actually reaching toward a common point: a world where everyone and everything achieves greatness beyond measure and expectation. A world where cars soar to the same great heights as the human imagination, where lumbering automatons cater to our every whim and where the distant reaches of the galaxy are but a moment away.

A world of tomorrow.

It was exactly that sense of wonderment that overtook me, right until I stepped out of the museum and onto the street. Cars were coughing into congested traffic, the closest thing I saw to an automaton was a homeless guy doing the robot and I was faced with a long walk home through the world of…well…today. And while I have to admit I found that a little depressing, I take solace in the fact that there’s no telling what tomorrow might bring.

Who knows – it might just be a whole new world.

*Today’s graphic is a still from SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, depicting Godzilla defending Tokyo from an army of giant robots. And no, it doesn’t get any cooler than that.