Imagining the evolution of the phone, from Western Electric.
While the temporal annihilation associated with modern telecommunication heralds a key historical triumph, the Weasley family clock from Harry Potter makes the association between logistics, time, and space more explicit. From the living room at the Burrow, the clock’s nine golden hands tie each member of the household to a series of possible geographies, including home, school, work, traveling, lost, hospital, prison, and (most notably) mortal peril.
After Wal-Mart stand-in Buy ‘n’ Large’s brand of mass consumerism leaves the earth a wasteland of garbage, human evacuation leaves behind a logistical cleanup crew of WALL-Es (Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth-Class). While WALL-E’s 700 year service is impressive, it’s the logistical operations in the stars above that deserve the most attention.
Blowing up a dam to flood the plain and wipe away a swarm of devastating ants in the “Trumbo’s World” episode of MacGyver (1985).
In “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen: “The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive/ Everyone’s out on the run tonight but there’s no place left to hide.”
Batman Begins (2005). Since a significant component of the film’s plot is a drug smuggling operation orchestrated by Carmine Falcone, Jonathan Crane, and a mysterious mastermind, it is only fitting that the dark knight’s first costumed reveal takes place at the Gotham city docks.
It shouldn’t be surprising that a movie whose premise rests on energy production offers a rich landscape for exploring alternative imaginations of a monstrous interpretation of logistics. Monsters, Inc. (2001) follows its protagonists through a nightmarish world where energy and economic infrastructures are primarily founded on fear (or more specifically, screams).
Newman “crunching the numbers” in one of Seinfeld’s most logistically dense episodes. The Bottle Deposit (1996) hinges on taking advantage of an (almost) empty mail truck and the 10¢ refund offered by the state of Michigan.
